In a Land of Plenty

From the Great Depression of the 1930's to 1984, the first objective of economic policy was full employment. But with the election of the Labour government in 1984 unemployment was made an instrument of economic management, to be manipulated in the pursuit of other objectives.

This feature length documentary tells the story of how the policies and institutions which sustained full employment were abandoned and reconstructed to maximise the effectiveness of the new policy.

This film shows the political battles fought inside and outside government and the increasing effects on the cultural, social and economic life of New Zealand as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.