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PlaNet News & Views
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Posted on 11-11-2004 Unembedded by Alan Marston
Visits to the New Zealand Immigration Service website topped 10,300 last
Wednesday when George W. Bush was re-elected. The asset those people were
seeking? New Zealand as a `Western' country perceived not to be in bed
with the US government.
Since David Lange's Labour Government brought into law the nuclear free
status that the vast majority of New Zealanders wanted, New Zealand has
become the prime destination for people seeking freedom from the latest,
and hopefully the last, imperial power.
I feel blessed to have been born here and have no desire whatsoever to
live anywhere else. But many US citizens and even some Australians no
longer feel they live in a lucky country. The chips are down, they want
out. Their political vote has failed them and now they are voting with
their feet.
There is a dark side (some would say that's all I ever see in my cave,
however what I do see from in here is hard to deny). If the attraction of
New Zealand is sold light a side of lamb then, like all tourist resorts,
success will be the death of it. There is a delicate balancing act ahead
of us kiwis, a high consciousness is our only hope of seeing our way
through.
The marketers say New Zealand has "liberal attractions", including the
debate over civil unions for same-sex couples, anti-globalisation, and our
anti-war stance. Some of our Australian neighbours are even thinking of
making the move... again.
New Zealand is not a backwater any longer. Food now comes in a huge
variety, clothes are more fashionable. Yes, we live at the end of the
world, exactly where many people would love to be with our magnificent
natural beauty, which if valued only in monetary terms is undervalued and
thus subject to the asset strippers.
If you are planning on coming to New Zealand, you better be prepared to
work hard, says NZ News UK. An International Labour Organisation study
found New Zealand workers put in the second-longest hours in the Western
world behind the Japanese. It found that 20 per cent of the country's
workforce worked at least 50 hours a week, compared with less than 10 per
cent in most European countries.
Clean hands, warm heart, open mind, not in bed with uncle Sam. Way to go.
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