Changing of the OE guard
Kiwis have always headed off to see the world. Now, thanks to events such as the Bastille Day attack, everyone wants to come here.
GROWING up in New Zealand, one couldn’t wait to go to that mythical place where everything was better – overseas.
‘‘Overseas’’ was where you could earn heaps of money, hang out with cool and interesting people, buy stuff for less than what it would cost in New Zealand, and have great adventures.
With air travel being the preserve of only the rich and famous, the great Kiwi OE was born. Young Kiwis would save up for a tour of duty of about two years, basing themselves in London and trying to see the rest of overseas from there.
The other ways Kiwis could get overseas was to go to ‘‘Little Overseas’’ – Australia – or stay here and work their whole lives to save up, then take a trip around all of ‘‘overseas’’ after retirement.
These days, overseas doesn’t seem nearly as foreign as it used to. We even have a fair few people from ‘‘overseas’’ who like to visit us. According to the latest stats, 3.2 million short-term visitors in the year to April.
Of course, this is partly due to the country’s stunning scenery. But also it must be partly due to another ‘s’ word – ‘‘safety’’.
The terrorist attack this week in France is the latest of many incidents that are increasingly making life ‘‘overseas’’ look insane. But it’s not just the fear of terrorism.
Even before the attack on innocent people in Nice, the term ‘‘moving to New Zealand’’ was featuring on more and more Google searches. Our little shaky isles have never seemed a more attractive place to live.
This week, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg told the New York Times that if Donald Trump became president, she would move here.
I’m sure she wouldn’t be the only American thinking like that.
Tourism New Zealand has unveiled a new campaign featuring Hollywood superstar director James Cameron showing off this country’s sights. One can only imagine how many of Cameron’s rich mates would have taken note of that, and started drawing up plans to buy a farm next to Shania.
Britain’s pending exit from Europe is also making some of its citizens think more seriously of moving here.
Which is odd. It’s not like down here we have the right to live and work in Europe either. Clearly, they’re worried about what will happen to their country and want to be somewhere safe and far from all the woe of the world.
Even Aussies are starting to look at New Zealand fondly. For the first time since 1991, there are more people moving here than going there.
With an election year looming, immigration will probably again be an issue that will be bandied GETTY IMAGES (above), REUTERS about by politicians. Don’t buy into their usual bluster about people coming here, putting pressure on infrastructure and taking Kiwi jobs. Our net gain of immigrants is only about 60,000. Surely, we can handle that.
If you look at work visa arrivals by country for the last three years, most are from the UK, followed by France, Germany, Australia then the US. There’s also a large number of students from China and India, who are pouring much-needed capital into New Zealand educational institutions.
There are growing waves of humans overseas looking for a safe place to live out their lives with freedom and dignity.
Some of those tides are starting to turn in our direction – we have to be ready.