I’m back at the keyboard after a few weeks pre-occupied with family stuff. And not much has happened that I feel strongly enough to write about.
I must admit to a degree of satisfaction (hopefully not edging too far toward smugness) that New Zealand’s government has decided to change direction on Fiji. Loud, angry chest-thumping and finger-pointing have, as I (and others) predicted in an earlier blog, led nowhere. Nor should it: Fiji’s governance is Fiji’s concern, not ours.
To begin my writing this year I want to go back a month or so to the report by Don Brash’s taskforce on how to “catch up” to Australia. My opinions are somewhat longer formed on this issue than many others, as I lived my first 25 years in Australia and have chosen to live since then in New Zealand.
For those non-downunder readers of this blog (happily, the number of such is growing), many New Zealanders – ranging from leading politicians down to my own daughters – have been angsting for the past couple of decades about how much more money Kiwis can make in Australia, how the shopping is so much better and how the lifestyle is richer and more affluent.
So leading right-winger Don Brash was tasked with drawing up a plan that would enable us to catch up, to earn more and be able to spend more. Although one of the expressed motivations for setting this goal is to encourage more young Kiwis to stay here, I suspect this is only a minor goal for most business leaders, well behind simply making more money and buying more stuff.
There’s also the aspirational (or envy?) factor. Pacific Islanders worry about their citizens coming to New Zealand as they aspire to live our lifestyle. Kiwis similarly aspire to be more like their big cousins over the Tasman Sea and worry when our kids fly off there. But then Australians aspire to match the earnings and influence of Americans (or English) and do their own big OEs.
On this issue, very few people have been asking the question: Do we really want New Zealand to be more like Australia? Especially if that means we also have to accommodate a larger population in much larger cities, and be spread that much further apart. Is the extra money that can be earned in Oz worth the loss in lifestyle? And anyhow, will young Kiwis travel and work overseas regardless of how much money they can make at either end?
Back when we were both working employees in Melbourne and Christchurch respectively, my brother, still living over there, would have earned more than I. But he would have spent a hunk of the difference on petrol commuting from the outer suburbs (plus loss of time while driving a couple of hours a day), as well as on servicing a mortgage on a more expensive house. (For the record, we were never in such comparable positions so this comparison is incorrect in detail, but reasonable in principle.)
He pays significantly more in several State and Federal taxes and for items such as car registration and insurance. It’s further to travel for him to see other members of his family (myself notwithstanding).
It is just too simplistic to compare the two countries in terms of money in the wage packet. So many specific factors can enter the equation for any one person or comparison.
So it comes back to balancing all the advantages and disadvantages between the two countries, not just the relative material wealth. I actually chose (and continue to choose, despite being apart from my dear siblings all living still in Australia) to live in New Zealand. For me, the complete picture included being able to earn enough money to live comfortably, alongside the simpler, more sustainable lifestyle and diversity of culture here. With all these factors in the equation, my decision was to live here.
Posted by David Armstrong