Ditch division
ACCORDING TO our tough bargaining Prime Minister after his latest pre-election publicity jaunt, hardworking Kiwis in Aussie are ‘‘guests’’ therefore not entitled to benefits. So why doesn’t he return the compliment. He can change the rules easy enough. Just like he did for Warner Brothers. IT WAS unbelievable watching our Prime Minister John Key interact with Tony Abbott over the whole sorry Australian debacle. He is being such a wet. This is an intolerable situation that is becoming worse by the minute and rapidly destroying a relationship between two countries who have stood side by side through two world wars and all other national and international crises.
We are now letting the Australian Government walk all over us. There were no bilateral talks. Tony Abbott laid down the law on how it is going to be and John Key agreed. Surely with all John Key’s banking history and negotiation skills we can get Kiwis a better deal than this? It is more of a human rights issue now and fast becoming a racist attack against New Zealanders.
Where is our pride to stand up to the Australians?
Tony Abbott is saying we should be ‘‘grateful’’ just to work in Australia. Grateful for what? That Kiwis work for years and years, pay taxes and get nothing for that. Why are we paying taxes at all? Where is the tax money going? I don’t think we are very lucky at all.
Stand up to the bullies and get some respect back.
Don’t let Australians have rights to citizenship or any benefits after three years, and boycott anything Australian until they bend to us.
KIWIS ARE
‘‘guest workers’’ in Australia, says John Key. So Kiwis living and working over there just have to put up with having no access to Australia’s welfare system, in spite of paying taxes to the Australian Government. I think we should take a leaf out of their book and change the rules for Aussies living here, just as Australia did in 2001. Our government has also undergone financial and political pressure, especially in the post earthquakes period. Fair is fair.
AUSTRALIA CHANGED
its immigration laws for New Zealanders on February 26, 2001, no longer granting them permanent residency automatically. Some 250,000 New Zealanders are affected; they have no pathway to citizenship, cannot vote or work in the military, for example. They are only considered Permanent Residents (PR) for tax purposes but can work and reside indefinitely. So much for the Anzac spirit; the reason the open border policies and single labour market between Australia and New Zealand exist.
Some of the unintended consequences of the changes include children born in Australia to Kiwi parents must reside here eight of their first 10 years to gain citizenship. Kiwi victims of family violence can’t take their Aussie-born children back to NZ if the father puts them on the police watch list; some have been told by Centrelink to put their kids in state care and return. Oz Kiwi is campaigning for a fair pathway to citizenship for this group.