um,....

NZ Punk Culture.

yes... was and is. I think it would be fair too say Wellington certainly had it's Politico inspired Punk scene in the late '70's -early '80s. Left Wing Political thought would have been as much a building block as causing a reaction, being in a clique, the power of the actual music.
The Christchurch groups/scene I think would be called less Politics more Music. Very much get up and get into the "new music". I would suggest trying to get hold of the Mollet St Market veterans... I can talk to a few guys down here if you like. Try Dick Driver if your brave enough, he will have some great stories.

Today's scene is quite a different animal, as to be expected of any "genre" that bridges totally different economic and social "patterns". It could (and has) been raised that this 3rd Generation of Punk is nothing more than marketing fodder and as much an alternative as say, the Herald is to the Press. Many people wish to identify with a "set", Punks are no different in this and it is slightly disingenious to single them out for Corporate Whoredom. I guess whats readily visible is the Punk Ethos of "anti" means they may have a cross to bear in the hypocrisy stakes. This generation is also the children of the Free-Market which brings with it a whole raft of socio-political thoughts which I'm sure no-one can be bothered with. A quick look at the message boards of various NZ "Punk" websites indicates real strains of Right-Wing beliefs/policy dressed up in the old Libertarian garb. This pretty much meaning your as free as you can afford to be.While in the surface this is everything the "Originals" would despise it could also be claimed that upsetting your Parent's is of similar value to the Punk lifestyle. The espousal of Individual Rights is high, the willingness to embrace the reasoning why large Corporates want such "liberty" seems woefully lacking. Maybe critical thinking has been eliminated form education or simply there is a dumbing down... who can say? Maybe the 3rd Generation credo is Nihilism first.

Punk Message/Impact

I'm not that confident on comparison of genre's impact. Surely Miles going electric in '69, Leo Fender mass producing the Electric Bass Guitar, Elvis on TV, Bob Dylan's lyrics, Beatlemania, had as much or more impact? Probably the definer is what's the important music for you.
As for the message look above... The message I am getting is that anyone or idea can be bought and sold, and will be exploited for commercial gain.

Punk's Influence.

Got to be the D.I.Y. attitude. I'm pretty sure that most of us are en-debted to this whole part of the Punk make-up. Yes you can give it a go is a pretty good motto I reckon. Unfortunately this also includes publicizing poor playing technique , recording standards and falling for the ultimate Pop crime, Look versus Talent. But I for one would be much the poorer without the recorded output of say, New Order, Talking Heads and Magazine, so like all musical genre the onus is always on the listener to ignore the schloss and find the gems of original creativity. As far as the NZ music Industry Punk really is a major force. Flying Nun , argueably our best exporter and certainly the self-proclaimed keeper of the NZ sound, is unthinkable without the Punk explosion. The list of Bands/Artists who came from here is probably unending. It's not always the sound too, it's the whole Give it a Go mentality. I would argue that the Tall Dwarfs, Low Profile, Look Blue Go Purple are as much "Punk" in outlook as say Black Flag. One just looks more the part eh?

30 year view?
maybe in another 30 years we will know. You need to get to the people at the source. They are the ones to draw any applicable comparisons.

I could go on, I've probably scared you off, but let us know how you get on. There is hopefully a couple of oldtimers round this site who could sink there teeth into this I reckon.
So without mentioning names Scott, Dragstrip, Sonorhead get cracking.

heh.