Pass me the brain bleach!

[trixtah]

Despite the fact I am quite enjoying living in Australia (while Canberra has its drawbacks, they're minor in the greater scheme of things), I DO NOT WANT TO BE AN AUSTRALIAN. *ahem*  Seriously, I do not. While the place is fairly similar to NZ culturally, there are still some significant differences (treatment of the indigenous population being a glaring example). Also, while NZ was in the 1950s politically up until the late 80s, and a lot of kiwis emigrated here to participate in a much more liberal lifestyle, that difference has done a 180 degree swap - Australia doesn't seem to be politically that far away from the US at present, while NZ is a bit like Scandanavia-in-the-South-Pacific. New Zealand is my home and my refuge, still.

Imagine my horror on learning that some Aussie MPs are suggesting that NZ unite politically with Australia. Ack! I don't have problems with the notion of a shared currency, if it's handled well. The current CER trade agreement works well (and is light-years better than any "free trade" agreement with the US, which the NZ government raises as a possibilty from time to time. God knows why). But as Idiot/Savant on No Right Turn points out:

... on the minus side there's the fact that our "shared values" aren't that shared. Quite apart from the obvious point of difference on race relations, there's also our divergant foreign policies and differing stances on Iraq, climate change, refugees, human rights, and the Pacific. Political union with Australia would mean losing our voice on the international stage, and would see our policy stance dictated by Texas-over-the-Tasman. And that's something I don't want a bar of.

Also, given the number of kiwi jokes that abound here (more than the other way round, I've noticed), why on earth would they want to have us? It's amusing there's still provision in the legislation that forms the Australian Commonwealth for the addition of NZ as another state. It's kind of sweet, in a way (ignoring the imperialistic aspect).

Comments

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough I was just talking to a friend about that this afternoon.

He pointed out there are a lot of advantages to amalgamation from NZ's point of view (can't remember what they are now).

I pointed out that while I could see what he was getting at, I Do Not Want To Be Australian.

And I don't know very many New Zealanders who do.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can see some advantages to a shared currency and this and that, but since we can freely work in both countries, I don't see any major other benefits. I wouldn't want the Aussie tax regime (zillions of exemptions and rules that everyone tries to score from), and I think business and political practices in NZ are a lot less corrupt. Some economies of scale stuff might be feasible, and I think NZers are somewhat underpaid even taking quality-of-life into account.

However, I think all the kiwis over 25 who'd want to be Australian are already here, living on the Gold Coast. :-)