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

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Yes, the EU is a model I was thinking of as well. But with CER and the DTAs and so on, we do have good chunks of it. More would be dandy.

It's funny what you say about climate. I was thinking the other day that NZ should just stop pissing around with trying to export to Europe, and just be Australia's farm. We export 8 times the amount of protein than we consume, and that would probably just about cover Australia's needs (given 5x the population). So too with (renewable) softwood exports. Can't quite manage the sugar cane or wheat, alas (although NZ produces some wheat). Perhaps PNG should be part of the SPU?

As for major environmental refugee problems, you're not kidding. While the NZ government is gearing up for 50,000 Tuvalans (not to mention the 100,000s other Pacific Island people who live in low-lying atolls), a few million Australians might strain the borders a bit. Still, they can squeeze 60 million into the UK with about the same land area as NZ - anything's possible! (eek) Now, there is somewhere I wouldn't fancy living again for the long term.

Too right about being more to a country than its government. Actually, I have yet to find a Canberran who has voted for this lot. One problem about being a furriner is not having a feel for the underlying political currents and slow shifts - hope for the future is a good thing.

[filkferengi]

obLMB: "I didn't vote for him." ;)

"I didn't vote for him"

[jekni.livejournal.com]

Yup, and you won't either - no matter how many you ask. (Even the ones who actually did are too p*issed off with what the Liberal party has done to this place in the last 10 years).

Traditionally the ACT is die-hard Labor territory. One of the reasons Little Johnny doesn't want to live here (I could tell you the other but it's only salacious gossip - the best kind, of course).

We all hope for the future. Although it doesn't matter who you vote for - a politician still gets elected.