Voices of the New Economy

Many of us have been taught that success means earning more, buying more and consuming more. But what if the opposite were true? What if living with less could actually lead to greater wellbeing, stronger communities and a more meaningful life? Jon, the creator of Living More with Less, shares how his family has come remarkably close to living a one-planet lifestyle while discovering greater freedom, generosity and connection along...

Permaculture educator, designer and community development facilitator Robina McCurdy joins Voices of the New Economy to explore how communities can move beyond food security towards food resilience and food sovereignty. Drawing on more than 35 years of experience across Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, Robina has worked with communities to develop local food systems, community gardens, food forests, seed-saving initiatives...

Why does so much of the technology we use seem to get worse over time? Platforms become crowded with advertising and algorithms, devices become harder to repair, and the digital services we rely on increasingly collect our data and lock us into corporate ecosystems. There’s a word for this process: enshittification. In this episode we explore surveillance capitalism, planned obsolescence, monopolies, generative AI and the rig...

What if one of the biggest barriers to a just and liveable future is not only our systems, but our collective ideas about wealth, success, and what it means to have enough? In this thought-provoking conversation, Diana Colleen explores the bold ideas behind her speculative eco-thriller, including maximum wages, billionaireism as a form of pathological hoarding, and the role of inner transformation in creating wider systems change. ...

What would it take to redesign the economy around care, reciprocity, community, and ecological wellbeing? In this conversation, Tiyana speaks with Sally from WEAll Aotearoa about the wellbeing economy movement, the alignment between wellbeing economies and Māori worldviews, and why economic transformation must be grounded in place, long-term thinking, and collective flourishing. Together, they explore the limits of GDP, the role of...

What if the crises facing humanity are not simply failures of policy or economics, but symptoms of a much deeper civilisational problem? In this conversation, Tiyana speaks with Yin Paradies about modernity, Indigenous ways of knowing, and the possibility of returning to more relational, place-based, and community-centred ways of living. Together they explore the origins of hierarchy, cities, households, and economic systems; the p...

Anitra Nelson joins Voices of the New Economy for a powerful conversation about degrowth, ecological economics, nonmonetary futures and the New Economies for Eradicating Poverty initiative. Together, we explore why money is not a neutral tool but a central mechanism of capitalism, how communities can organise work, care and resources beyond monetary exchange, and why poverty cannot be solved through economic growth alone. Anitra al...

What if the real challenge is not designing a shinier new economy, but learning when to stop? Michael Bayliss, host of the Post Growth Australia podcast, joins Voices of the New Economy to explore what it means to move beyond an economic system that depends on endless expansion on a finite planet. Drawing on years of activism across environmental, post-growth, population, and grassroots community movements, Michael reflects on the ...

A head of lettuce hits $12, supermarket shelves start looking a little thinner, floods cut communities off for weeks — and suddenly “local food” stops being a lifestyle trend and starts looking like common sense. Tianda Williams joins Voices of the New Economy to explore how uForage is helping people re-localise food systems by turning surplus into shared nourishment. uForage is a community-powered food map that c...

What does a “new economy” look like when it’s grounded in democracy, agency, and the limits of the living world? Audrey, co-founder of People for Nature, shares how a lifelong connection to insects and the mountains eventually led her from corporate communications and decarbonisation tech into citizen-powered climate and biodiversity work. Together we unpack why information alone doesn’t shift systems, how t...

Economics doesn’t need reinventing, Eugene argues — it needs remembering. Fresh from his tenth year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he shares what it looks like when the world’s most powerful rooms split into two camps: those still polishing strategy on paper, and those ready to tear it up and act.

The conversation moves from trillion-dollar talk to street-level reality: why modern systems can “perform ...

This episode dives into the world of co-operatives and why they are such a powerful — and often overlooked — foundation of the new economy. Antony McMullen unpacks what actually makes a co-op different from a conventional business, and why those differences matter in practice, not just in theory. From democratic decision-making and shared ownership to responsibility for people, place and purpose, the conversation explor...

This conversation with Dr Elizabeth McDougal explores why education is not a supporting player in economic transition, but one of its deepest foundations. Drawing on contemplative pedagogy and Buddhist approaches to learning as whole-person cultivation, Elizabeth reflects on how modern education systems often privilege cognitive performance and measurable outcomes, while sidelining relational, somatic, imaginative, and reflective w...

A new economy cannot be separated from the question of governance: who makes decisions, whose interests are prioritised, and how communities can hold power in systems increasingly shaped by commercial influence. In this conversation, GP and population health educator Dr Peter Tait outlines why good governance is foundational to human and ecological wellbeing, and why civil society must become more active in reshaping the political ...

This conversation with Robin, Coordinator of Live Well Tasmania, explores how economies might be redesigned to support wellbeing, connection, and ecological care rather than endless growth. Drawing on her background in economics, environmental science, and community development, Robin discusses Community Based Income — a proposal for a liveable wage paid for caring, learning, and community contribution — and how it diff...

A bold and challenging conversation with Robert McLean, retired newspaper editor and host of the podcast Climate Conversations, explores one of the most deeply held assumptions of modern life: that progress depends on ever-increasing work and consumption. Robert makes the case for a four-hour work day as a practical response to climate breakdown, arguing that people in wealthy countries need to become financially poorer in order to...

When we talk about the future, many of us can describe a dystopia in vivid detail – climate chaos, social breakdown, rising costs of living – but struggle to imagine a future that is safe, regenerative and worth living in.

In this episode of Voices of the New Economy, Tiyana speaks with Carmen Stewart, regenerative futures practitioner and lead of Imagine Northern Rivers. Carmen has been working with communities across t...

What does degrowth actually mean, and why are so many organisers and researchers treating it as a key pillar of the new economy? In this episode of Voices of the New Economy, Tiyana speaks with community activist and degrowth organiser Anisa about re-imagining an economy built on enough, rather than endless “jobs and growth”.

Drawing on years of grassroots climate and justice organising, Anisa explains degrowth as a plan...

In our very first episode of NENA’s ‘Voices of the New Economy’ Podcast, Tiyana sits down with Henry Coleman from Local Futures to explore one of the most important — and misunderstood — ideas in the new economy movement: localisation.

Henry shares why he believes the future of a thriving, fair and ecologically healthy economy must be rooted in place. Rather than a single blueprint, localisation is a di...