Osmaston wants to go ‘beyond the banal’
Money Free Party New Zealand founder and perennial election candidate Richard Osmaston says his message has been consistent over the past 10 years.
‘‘It’s made of truth, it doesn’t change,’’ he said, referring to his drive for a revolutionary switch from a monetary to a resource-based economy.
Under such a system, everything would be free and all work voluntary, Osmaston said.
No stranger to the hustings, Osmaston has previously thrown his hat in the ring for the mayoralty of Grey district and Nelson city as well as a couple of councillor roles. However, that’s usually been one mayoral – and possibly one councillor – role per election. This year, he’s upped his efforts with nominations for the mayoralties of Tasman district, Buller, Grey, Westland, Nelson and Marlborough along with a bid for the sole Lakes-Murchison ward role on Tasman District Council and one of three vacancies as a central ward representative on Grey District Council.
‘‘I am attempting to raise the conversation beyond the banal,’’ he said by way of explanation for his multiple candidacies. ‘‘We’re getting very bogged down in the minutiae whilst ... our world is collapsing around us.’’
Sipping a beer in the pub at Tapawera before a candidates’ meeting, Osmaston said he often felt ‘‘on a knife edge’’.
He described a ‘‘tightening noose around morality and decency’’ driven by the monetary system, where the winners were people who took the most from society.
However, there was now a ‘‘sense of urgency starting to outweigh the status quo’’ with poverty as the main driver as many people struggled to afford the basics in life.
‘‘What we’re used to is not really working is it, if we’re honest.’’
Osmaston said people used to laugh when he presented his idea for a moneyfree world. ‘‘I got it wrong so many times.’’
However, he believed people were now hearing his message and he felt driven to continue.
In response to a question at the candidates’ meeting about what he could do for Tapawera, Osmaston said it was difficult to do much in the short term ‘‘but in the long term, we do need hope’’.
‘‘By that I mean [a future] with real integrity, an integrity that works for our generation and older, and an integrity that works for young people.’’
According to an explanation on the Money Free Party website, everyone initially would continue as before after a switch to a resource-based economy with the likes of invoices and payslips, except ‘‘the number at the bottom right-hand corner will always be a zero’’.
‘‘As society rapidly adjusts, those working in destructive, harmful or unimportant jobs will quickly realise the pointlessness of their activity, and, because they get the same reward whether they go to work or not, they are no longer being held hostage to a corrupt system, will quite simply cease going to work.’’