Keeper of the Long View: A PCE history

Writer David Young was commissioned to pen this independent history of the PCE. Published for release at the PCE20 Forum in March 2007, his book not only marks the PCE's 20th anniversary, it also looks at the office within the big picture of New Zealand's progress towards sustainability.

David drew on more than 20 hour-long interviews with people including Helen Hughes, the first Parliamentary Commissioner; Dr Morgan Williams, Commissioner 1997-2007; former MPs Doug Kidd and Peter Neilsen; former Minister for the Environment Marion Hobbs; plus Guy Salmon, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Russ Ballard, Cath Wallace, current Energy Minister David Parker and others who have firsthand knowledge of the PCE and its changing role. He also contacted 20 others, via email and phone, in addition to his own research.

He has moved beyond a plain institutional history to look at the changing character of New Zealand's environmental movement, and at how central and local government have dealt with sustainability concerns. In the final chapter, the author and 14 interviewees talk about the challenges that lie ahead, particularly climate change.

Contributor Dana Petersen ends with these words: "We in New Zealand are a small and connected enough community to be leaders for incredible things, if we can find common ground and work together."

The author

David spent 12 years at the Listener, first as a journalist and later as assistant editor. He was editor of the resource management monthly Terra Nova for its two years of life in the early 1990s. For the past 15 years, he has operated as an independent researcher and writer in the field of history and environment, mostly in Treaty work, television documentaries, museum display development, and for central and regional government.

He lives in Wellington, and among his published works are Woven By Water: Histories from the Whanganui River, and Our Islands, Our Selves: A History of Conservation in New Zealand. Before Keeper of the Long View, David's most recent book was Whio: Saving New Zealand's Blue Duck.

Obtaining copies

You can purchase a copy of this book online, or from a Wellington bookstore (see right).