Ben Read challenged the meeting to think laterally by posing the question, “Are we the most politically correct (PC) country in the world?” He reminded us that our world had changed dramatically in the last 15 years, with new industries springing up to make us PC, such as:
- travel management with 500 cones in place for 4-5 days in a row with nothing happening to stimulate jobs
- scaffolding for single-story buildings, where more people get injured putting it up than operating on site
Ben talked about how as a nation, we have a suffocating level of PC surrounding our children, for example, sanitising playgrounds for safety, and the implications this will have on the next generation who will grow up without entrepreneurial skills and will not be able to participate in the economic future of the country because they have never taken risks, and will not have the drive to win because participation is enough. As a country, we need to re-establish guidelines on political correctness.