The lead article on today’s NZ Herald web page
As we predicted, the New Zealand press have at last picked up on the carping Kiwis article in the Australian Courier newspaper we wrote about yesterday.
The Herald used the example of a New Zealander living on the Gold Coast as an illustration
Tim Baker, a 40-year-old Kiwi living on the Gold Coast, wasn’t surprised by the survey results.
While Kiwi-Aussies might seem a “miserable lot”, many had good reason to grumble, he said.
“We are basically second-class citizens over here.
“I’ve moved here with my Australian wife, had three kids here who are Australians, I have worked here pretty much the whole time and I have bought property. But when I got laid off, what could I get? Nothing.”
Of course a balanced report may have questioned why Mr Baker didn’t decide use his time in employment to apply for permanent residency in Australia, why he didn’t give himself and his family long term security in their new country. This is what migrants from other countries do. It’s what migrants in New Zealand are expected to do. Why aren’t New Zealanders in Australia doing it too?
The Herald says it costs Kiwis more than migrants from other countries to obtain Australian citizenship $3800 vs. A$800 but that figure of A$800 looks very low. We think it’s because migrants from other countries have already paid out thousands for permanent residency (PR) and citizenship for them is simply a ‘top up’ to seal the deal. New Zealanders would have to start from scratch – paying for PR, waiting for the residency requirement to elapse and then going for citizenship. Some may say it’s worth the investment to obtain the security.
Currently only New Zealanders holding a special category visa before 26 February 2001 are eligible to apply for Australian citizenship straight off. Any New Zealanders arriving since then have to apply for permanent residency first, just like any other migrant group has to ” if they wish to access certain social security payments, obtain Australian citizenship or sponsor their family members for permanent residence.” source
The question here should be why aren’t Kiwis applying for PR in Australia instead of complaining that they can’t access some social security payments.
You can read the full article by the Herald here http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11241507
Interestingly, the Herald hasn’t yet allowed comments from its readers.
You may also like
NZ TV News Anti-British, Anti-Australian. Everyday Racism in New Zealand
E2NZ.org 
A noble man once said, ‘justice denied to single person, is justice denied to the whole humanity’. But this statement seems much relevant in context of migrants in NZ, rather than cuzzies in Aussies. For migrants in NZ,basic human rights are denied at every echelon of NZs ethnocentric racist society and no Kiwi gives two shills about it.Thousands of hopes have been broken by a missold NZ dream, which was nothing but turned out to be a hoghwash, a marketing pitchline for them and a one way pifall for us. Most of them took this risk to contribute to NZ, but they were treated as pariah, a lesser form of life.
While I hold sympathy to these kiwis in Australia, who despite their ‘intellectual achievements in the mining and booze industry’ and ‘degrees as glorious as NCEA’ don’t get to enjoy the social paychecks that their ‘aussie cuzzies’ do in NZ. However, notable is that they fail to build upon their ‘astute status’ not available to mere mortals such as us.These diseased people distinctly fail to comprehend the difference between previlages and rights, owing to their glorious theology of ‘kiwi supremacy’, from where their Gods are derived from.
PS – Apologies for any typing mistakes and errors, typing these words from a ‘poor man’s i phone’ with terribly bad scroll lag.
I don’t understand the big deal? We have the right to live in Australia and work there and that’s it. If you want to receive benefits then become an Australian citizen! I know NZ treats Australians live in NZ as one of our own but doesn’t mean they have to???
Get over it
Aren’t New Zealanders who live in Australia subject to a lot more restrictions and hurdles when applying for Residency in Australia compared to other nationalities? At one point, before getting NZ Residency, I looked at whether it was worth applying for citizenship of New Zealand in case I ever wanted to work in Australia. I was advised by people at work that I would be better off to apply using my Canadian / British nationality since it is a problem for Kiwis to get Residency due to the way in which their visas are classified. Maybe it has changed since then, but it would be useful to know what the current situation is.
@Anna: Your colleagues at work are talking nonsense. Australia does not disadvantage Kiwis when it comes to applying residence and/or citizenship. If anything, having the ability to work in Australia favours Kiwis because often one must get a job to classify for residency, but employers will not hire one unless one can already legally work.
What your colleagues said is another example of the abysmal ignorance amongst Kiwis. It is not that people cannot immigrate to Australia, obtain residency, and eventual citizenship. It is just that lazy, arrogant, and stupid Kiwis cannot do it.
I liked these 2 bits:
“I’ve moved here with my Australian wife, had three kids here who are Australians, I have worked here pretty much the whole time and I have bought property. But when I got laid off, what could I get? Nothing.”
I guess Australia hasn’t given him anything? But wait, what about the job and property? That’s way more than what migrants with 0 qualifications get in New Zealand!
A visa introduced in 2001 allowed them to live in Australia indefinitely, but they were excluded from many welfare entitlements despite paying taxes, he said.
Mr Baker, who has lived in Australia for nearly eight years, lost his job in the construction industry during the global financial crisis.
Now in the third year of a social work degree at Gold Coast’s Griffith University, he is not eligible for a student loan so he stacks shelves in a supermarket at night to earn the money to pay his fees up front.
Let’s see, international students and non-citizens are excluded from welfare entitlements,
Even locals lost their jobs in the GFC,
Since he’s not a citizen (just like in NZ), he can’t get a student loan,
Stacking shelves in a supermarket – considering the lack of qualifications(or even what he’s graduating towards), he’s lucky to have a job!
And let’s not forget the new kids that were born once in Australia. Somebody doesn’t want to plan ahead!
“Carping kiwi”, indeed!
The Kiwis overestimate how much they contribute to Australia. The person featured in the article could easily apply for permanent residency via his Australian wife, wait for five years, and then apply for citizenship.
However, Kiwis are too cheap and they generally lack the wherewithal to look after themselves. They are too accustomed to the state looking after them and the results show.
Kiwis are very lucky to have the Special Category Visa. Many people interested in migrating to Australia need to have a job offer before they have enough points, but employers are reluctant to offer jobs without permanent residency. Kiwis have the option to go to Australia first, find a job, and then apply for residency. This is an enormous advantage compared to people from other countries.
“Kiwis are very lucky to have the Special Category Visa.”
Agreed, however,
One of the apparently, numerous, sources of resentment that some Kiwis have towards Australians is that while the NZ government is honouring the original terms of the migration agreement, the Australian government isn’t. Some years ago, when I was getting some background info on migrating to NZ it appeared, in day to day practical terms, that my status would be the same as a NZ citizen. For obvious reasons, Australia hasn’t honoured the terms of the agreement and for equally obvious reasons, the NZ government hasn’t ‘retaliated’.
The entire ill-judged migration agreement should be confined to the shredder and Kiwis would be treated as any other prospective migrant.
http://www.afterellen.com/tv/493673-wentworth-star-danielle-cormack-talks-ballie-frankie-orange-new-black/2 Always liked her as an actress, and almost forgot she was a Kiwi, but then she had to take a petty shot at Australia, and I was like, “Oh yeah, great actress, shame about the nationality”.
“We are basically second-class citizens over here.”
When will they ever understand, they’re not citizens.
It’s interesting that immigrants from some very different cultures seem to identify much more with Australia than our supposed close trans-Tasman ‘cousins’, perhaps Kiwis should leave their entitlement mentality behind.