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

[faxon.livejournal.com]

This "West Island" stuff keeps popping up every now and then. I remember it from when I was still at school - and that was a long, long time ago! I even remember the T-shirts. :)

I doubt it will ever happen. I can't see any NZ pollie wanting to give up having power over a country for power over a state. I can't see Helen Clark giving up being PM to become a state governer.

The big thing that I see stopping any trans-tasman union is the nuclear free stance of NZ - doesn't sit well with little Johnny.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

You're so right about no NZ politician ever being willing to vote away their power.

Foreign policy in general is a big one, isn't it? While the nuclear policy was important in itself, the underlying statement that "we will not kiss the US's butt any longer" is the one that the conservative wankers here bitterly resent.