Should Kiwi values fly north?
New Zealand’s image has always been less coarse than
Australia’s.
Both nations claim to be egalitarian. They salute the
‘fair go’, sharpen scythes to slash tall poppies and assert Jack and Jill are
as good as their masters and mistresses. (The NZ Governor General and PM jobs
are held by women).
Though the differences have been good for barbie banter,
they lack protein. Kiwis have problems with vowels, though not with rugby. They reckon it’s Godzone but half-a-million
prefer life across The Ditch where the weather and wages are hotter and higher.
There are seven sheep for every human in one place, and fewer than three in the
other.
The hard rock has always been equality. No longer. The top ten per cent of
the NZ population holds 60 per cent of the wealth while the bottom half has
four per cent. How to fix? Look north for an idea.
[more]
Seeking a house? Don’t venture across the Tasman. While values in Australia are tumbling,
those in NZ are whooshing ever upwards.
In Auckland, the nation’s biggest city, prices have doubled
since 2010. Other North Island centres
are not far behind. The government is
now pondering a rare move, importing a policy from next door: A capital gains
tax on windfalls from trading property.
CGT came to Australia in 1985 via a Labor government; to
widespread astonishment the nation didn’t turn into the Venezuela of the
Pacific. However that’s what will happen if NZ follows suit, according to
doom-mongers.
Opposition Leader Simon Bridges heads National – NZ’s tamer
version of Australia’s Liberal Party. His concern is for ‘people who work hard,
who save, who invest, who take risks deserve the fruits of their labour …there
is nothing fair about a CGT that fundamentally gets in the way of that.’ He has
four houses.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson
urged Bridges ‘to turn the hyperbole volume down a little bit … I think the
Kiwi way of life is about giving people a fair go, I think it's about making
sure that everyone is treated fairly ... that's what New Zealanders look for.’Maybe, for their politics are as exhilarating as a warm beer on a hot day. Compared with its giant neighbour’s fire-and-flood rhetoric on issues like asylum seekers, NZ is a high-country lake of tranquillity.
Listeners
knew they were in totally 100 per cent pure und fentestic jandal (thong) and
judder bar (speed bump) territory when they tuned into Radio National NZ
in February.
Suddenly a
breaking news-alert: Stop
everything: Trump shot? Brexit solved? Morrison seeking asylum? Just the discovery of one fruit fly. From
Queensland. Shock, horror. The furious search for his mates lit up bulletins
for a week.
Rental cars
carry a dashboard sticker reading KEEP LEFT – which isn’t just about road use.
Although Labour leads the present coalition, its National predecessor, which
lasted three 3-year terms, was so close to the centre it would put Bill Shorten
and Tony Abbott comfy on the same bench.
Led by the
jovial John Key, National was hard to hate.
He even ran a flag-change referendum; though the people said no, the
millionaire former banker’s reputation didn’t, well, flag. When he found the
job boring he quit.
His
perpetually smiling Labour successor Jacinda Ardern, 38, is using the same ‘box
of fluffies’ (Kiwispeak for ‘stay calm and carry on’) approach to crises. In
many countries being a young unmarried agnostic Mum would make her unacceptable
- in NZ it adds to her lustre.
The lunar
right seldom gets treated seriously. NZ
is usually ranked as the world’s least corrupt state according to Transparency
International. (Australia is 13th). The left has found discipline.
It could all turn to custard tomorrow, but these facts are on the menu today.
There are
plenty of silly decisions and stupid statements. There’s been an eruption of committees and working parties
examining every problem, including house prices. Much is more talk than walk.
Overall
public debates seldom get to the gladiatorial contests staged in the Canberra
colosseum. For this thank some smart decisions made long ago that Australia
might consider.
NZ has a Bill of Rights (1990) – Australia is still
hesitating. Aotearoa isn’t
cursed with a federal system. No State governments thwarting
change. Since 1951 there’s been no
upper house to revise / stuff up lower house legislation.
NZ has the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system also used
in Germany and Scotland. MPs are either elected by their constituency, or
appointed from the party list. It’s complex, but two years ago 80 per cent of
registered electors voluntarily voted. Seven seats are reserved for Maori on a
separate roll.
Australia is still chewing over a treaty with its indigenous
citizens. NZ’s was signed in 1840 and
although friction over interpretations sometimes sparks scrub fires, most seem
proud of the document, preserved as a national icon in Wellington.
There’s no contest that Waitangi Day (6 February) marks the
nation’s foundation. It’s an elaborate,
drawn-out event involving Maori custom, religion, pakeha (European)
rituals and fun on the treaty grounds. It’s sometimes been a forum for Maori
rotten tomato protests, but this year Ardern was treated with respect and given
the breakfast tomato sauce duty.
Like most leaders she uses Te Reo (Maori); scores of
words are being stirred into English and used in the mainstream media confusing
or delighting visitors.
So some Australians are going to find it even more difficult
to understand what’s going on next door.
If they can they might reckon there’s a thung or two to learn from Kiwis
in exchange for the CGT.
Australasian journalist Duncan Graham, who usually reports
from Indonesia, is briefly back in NZ.
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