New Zealanders could be forgiven for
not realising that Australians go the polls tomorrow following a marathon, and
sometimes farcical, election campaign. This is because there’s been very little
coverage or awareness of the campaign in New Zealand, as was pointed out by one
Australian newspaper report yesterday which said ‘The campaign noise that's
been blaring at Australians for weeks doesn't ring quite as loud across the
ditch - which could be a blessing for those voting in New Zealand’ – see Elise
Scott’s Aussies cast their votes in New
Zealand. Another Australian-based New Zealand blogger has also complained
that ‘You wouldn't know an election was being held if you relied on the NZ
media’ – see: Australian election ignored
by NZ media.
The main issues of importance to New
Zealanders are New Zealand ex-pat rights in Australia, the Australian economy
and refugee policies. However, with the Liberals looking almost certain to win
tomorrow, an extra focus in New Zealand is likely to be on the fact that the
rightwing Liberal leader Tony Abbott is married to a New Zealander.
Margie Abbott grew up in Wainuiomata, and was even a member of the New Zealand Labour Party. For more on his ‘Kiwi wife’, see Julie Ash and Katie Chapman’s 2010 profile: Kiwi could be first lady of Aussie. You can also watch or read a speech by Margie Abbott in which she tells of coming from a Labour voting family, and about race relations and her experience studying the Maori language in an attempt to ‘help break down barriers and to hopefully build bridges’.
Margie Abbott grew up in Wainuiomata, and was even a member of the New Zealand Labour Party. For more on his ‘Kiwi wife’, see Julie Ash and Katie Chapman’s 2010 profile: Kiwi could be first lady of Aussie. You can also watch or read a speech by Margie Abbott in which she tells of coming from a Labour voting family, and about race relations and her experience studying the Maori language in an attempt to ‘help break down barriers and to hopefully build bridges’.
In terms of the relationship between
the countries at the prime ministerial level, Abbott is already on good terms
with John Key, according to Tracy Watkins writing earlier in the year, saying
that ‘he and Key have already struck up a good relationship, and speak to each
other regularly’ – see: A great dividing
range. She also points out that Kevin Rudd was not especially close to this
country: ‘Rudd did not prioritise New Zealand, and put off several trips across
the Tasman’.
New Zealander Australian civic
rights
Abbott’s New Zealand connection has
become a source of great interest and is seen as a potential source of leverage
for many ‘Kiwis in Australia’ campaigning against what they consider
‘discrimination’. There are apparently some 648,000 ‘New Zealander Australians’
– Kiwis living in Australia with New Zealander origins. And of these, nearly
half do not receive full civic rights – such as the ability to vote,
eligibility to social security – because they shifted to Australia after 2001.
Some New Zealander Australians are hoping that this connection will be
conducive to getting an incoming Liberal government to reform the rules – see
Rachel Morton’s TV3 report, Tony Abbott's
Kiwi wife. However, the reality is that Abbott shows no sign of concessions
or even interest in the issue – which is well reported in Nick Brown’s story
today, Kiwis expect no favours from
Abbott's NZ ties.
The issue has become revived during
the election campaign, especially since Kevin Rudd’s older brother, who is
standing for re-election to the Senate, spoke out strongly: ‘I was
flabbergasted to discover last week that we've been giving our Kiwi cousins
living in Australia the bastard treatment since 2001’ – see Steve Marshall’s
TVNZ item, Australians 'ungrateful
bastards' – Kevin Rudd's brother. The issue was covered recently in TVNZ’s
5-minute Q+A video on Kiwis living in
Australia. See also today’s Herald story about the issue by Morgan
Tait: Rudd's flyer floors Kiwi.
To make matters worse, New
Zealanders who have worked in Australia but returned home are finding it very difficult
to transfer their retirement savings. One news report stated that ‘New
Zealanders who have worked in Australia are believed to be the owners of
perhaps up to a quarter of the $18 billion in ''lost'' super’ – see John
Collett’s Kiwis face hurdles in pursuit of
lost funds. There is also a Facebook page for the Oz-Kiwi campaign with 23,000
followers.
The Australian-NZ economy
The biggest impact of the election
will be changes to the Australian economy. As the 12th largest economy in the
world, and New Zealand’s largest trading partner, we are heavily affected by
what happens there. Robert Ayson of the Strategic Studies centre at Victoria
University of Wellington puts his views forward in a column, NZ wants a boring post-election Australia. He
concentrates mainly on what the ongoing economic situation will mean for New
Zealand, and says ‘the first request from Wellington is for Canberra to ensure
that its post-September policy settings are business and trade friendly’.
The impact of the likely economic
reforms of a Liberal government are discussed by the NBR’s Nevil Gibson in his
paywalled profile of Abbott (Abbott the Oxford
boxing Blue heads for another knockout), in which he says that although he
is ‘still virtually an unknown quantity in New Zealand, he is likely to get on
well with John Key and, unlike Kevin Rudd, could help advance CER to single
market status. There are similarities between the two’. In another paywalled
column (Tasman divide reveals sharp contrast in
business outlook) Gibson deals with the relative unhappiness of Australian
business leaders compared to their NZ counterparts. For example, ‘Of the
surveyed Australian business leaders, 92% viewed the economy as slowing,
stagnant or in decline, compared to only 37% of Kiwi leaders holding this view
of the New Zealand economy’.
The main man of interest in this
area is Joe Hockey, who is the shadow treasurer, and therefore likely to take
control of the economy after Saturday. He and Abbott often cite New Zealand as
the model they wish to emulate – see, for example, TV3’s The Nation 8-minute
interview: Hockey praises New Zealand
economy. One Australian economist, John Quiggin, has responded by
saying that ‘Anyone who could seriously suggest NZ as an economic model should
not be entrusted with the management of our economy’ – see his blogpost, Oz, NZ and the election.
Of course, New Zealand could also be
affected in other significant policy areas. As Robert Ayson points out, the
next Australian government might well be asking New Zealand to accept more
asylum seekers from Australia: ‘Whether it's Abbott's “Stop the boats” policy
or Rudd's policy using Papua New Guinea, it could end up with New Zealand being
asked to take a number of asylum seekers as it has in the past’. Ayson says ‘I
don't think either Rudd or Abbott will have thought how this will affect New
Zealand at all’.
Analysis of the election
issues
For the most comprehensive (and
opinionated) view of the Australian federal elections from New Zealand’s
perspective, see Gordon Campbell’s Australian
Election: They’re A Weird Mob. Campbell’s article is part of a feature in
the latest online issue of Werewolf, which also includes his other
articles, Fetishizing The Surplus and Blaming The Boat People. Campbell argues that
although Australians have a lousy choice to make between the incumbent and
opposition, there’s a lot more going on than just the Rudd vs Abbott
personality clash.
TV3’s Australian correspondent
Rachel Morton has provided some colourful and regular coverage with a New
Zealand dimension. See, for example, her two-minute report, Australian election campaign's worst moments.
Morton also reports on the latest farcical element to the contest in her TV
report last night: Serious end to
Australian election campaign.
One of the best items published in
New Zealand was by the Herald’s Greg Ansley – see: Captain Kevin's last stand, in which he
outlines why the Labor Government will lose. He also has a very good update
today: Australian election: The final
pitch. For a view on the decline of Labor, see today’s very good column by
Michelle Grattan, Judgment about the Rudd
Mark 2 experiment will depend on the size of the loss. And David
Farrar has blogged his own analysis of the likely results in The 2013 Australian election.
New Zealand’s own iPredict website
also has a comprehensive list of betting options for the Australian election –
see: Australian Federal Election 2013.
The main stock option, There will be a
Liberal Prime Minister after the next Australian Federal election is
currently running at 96%.
A lack of political substance?
Much of the analysis of the
Australian campaign has lamented the dire health of parliamentary politics in
that country, and the lack of real substance and choice on offer for voters.
For an analytical/visual view of this, it’s worth looking at the Political
Compass website’s Australian General
Election 2013 page. The commentary there says that ‘the economic
differences between Labor and the Liberals are increasingly blurred’.
One of the more interesting and
critical accounts of the campaign has come from former Labor politician Barry
Jones, who has written about The 2013
election and the death of rationality. Similarly, Bloomberg correspondent
William Pesek has summed up the campaign very well in his column saying that,
once again, the campaign has been ‘about nothing – see: Another Seinfeld election for Australia.
Others have characterised the decision on prime ministers as simply a choice
between a narcissist and a misogynist.
With Abbott likely to become PM,
there will inevitably be huge interest in Abbott personally. For an in-depth
and critical profile, see Matthew Donovan’s The
polishing of Tony Abbott.
Could New Zealand see some reverse
migration as a result of the outcome? This is summed up by Melbournian hip hop
artist Jack Hewitt’s song on YouTube: If
Tony Abbott Gets Elected I'm Moving to New Zealand. Certainly the new
administration will be considerably to the right of New Zealand politics. Of
course, many would argue that it already is.
For a New Zealand satirical take on
the issues, see Ben Uffindell’s Civilian parodies Tony Abbott struggles to name a woman, Tony Abbott distances self from Tony Abbott in
first debate, Kevin Rudd announces
election date was yesterday and Kevin
Rudd wakes up after bizarre 3-year-long dream.
But reality is often stranger than
fiction, so check out Hayden Donnell’s Herald retrospective: Australian election: Five memorable moments.
Finally, for New Zealand-based
analysis of the election results, TV3 will be screening an hour-long Three60 Australian election special on
Sunday morning at 9am, involving Guyon Espiner, Rachel Morton, Amanda Gillies,
Paul Henry, Steve Maharey, and myself. TVNZ’s Q+A and Radio NZ will also cover
the issues at 11am on Sunday.
Dr Bryce Edwards is a politics lecturer at Otago University.
1 comment:
NZ Politics v NZ Media
Dr. Edwards summary of the lack of information on the Australia election is not alone. It seems that our Media uses its own form of censorship of what it wishes us to know.
This may be bound by Financial Constraints, or more to the point what Politicians think we should know.
Hence the lack of Media interest in what is probably the greatest "Threat" to our fragile democracy since World War 11. Namely the installation of a New Constitution dictated by a Committee formulated to get the answer both they and the Government, actually want?
One would have thought that this issue would warrant investigation, analysis, and speculation involving the general public by a media keen to ascertain the views of the public.
Instead couple this with what can only be described as pathetic journalistic coverage and overview of overseas news.
It is an early reminder of the Sunday tabloids in the UK, but without the spectacle of a Page 3 appreciation of the female anatomy!
Just what has happened to those in depth Reuters reports, overseas independent world wide TV and Radio commentaries etc?
Years ago an Iron Curtain descended upon a threatened Europe, here in God's Own the media's "Blanket of the Dark" blots our right to knowledge.
Brian
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