Perception of corruption is everything
Occasionally it’s good to take a step back and listen to what some New Zealanders are saying about their country.
The following remarks, taken from a comment left at the site in September 2015, are well worthy of their own page: this discourse on corruption, nepotism and Transparency International (NZ) will resonate with many of our migrant readers.
“I’m a kiwi – and I recognise most of what the immigrants say they’ve experienced. It’s one of the reasons I left and live someplace where people are more honest.
Having lived outside the country for the last decade and looking in, it’s blindingly obvious how parochial and insecure Kiwis really are, begging for praise but instantly bristling and going on the attack if their beloved homeland is criticised.
Because of that refusal to accept that many things aren’t good, kiwis have become wilfully blind to increasingly obvious levels of corruption in the country.
Here’s a hint: Corruption isn’t just “bribery”, even if that’s about the only definition defined in NZ laws. Cronyism is rife, as are things like police framing up people “because he’s a bad man and and even if he didn’t do this, there’s a lot more he has but we can’t prove” (“Noble Cause” corruption) and major-league influence peddling, which if performed as openly where I live now would result in the people responsible being jailed fairly quickly.
Kiwis believe that the country isn’t corrupt because they don’t see civil servants or police openly taking bribes – but as corruption starts at the top and works its way down, when you get to that observation it means that the system is completely rotten.
It’s rotten enough that the government abolished the Privy Council as the highest court in the land, due to that body returning a series of blistering criticisms of NZ Police and court practices over the years when hearing appeals over cases where convictions were clearly unsafe and on several occasions made with fabricated evidence. Instead of admitting that things needed fixing, the typical Kiwi response of sticking fingers in ears and going “I can’t hear you” kicked in.
Don’t look to Transparency International(NZ) to tell you the truth of what’s happening. They report the NZ public’s perception of corruption (not actual levels) – to top it off they’re 100% NZ govt funded, utterly opaque and kicked out most of their founding activists. Transparency International has noted all the shananigans and have distanced themselves from the outfit using their name in New Zealand.
NZ has a nasty underbelly with an ingrained culture of bullying and strong anti-intellectualism tendencies – if you’re not a sportsman, then anyone who wants to succeed in their field generally finds they have to go overseas to do it, only to find that the country then tries to ride on their coat tails if they become a celebrity, having been indifferent-to-obstructive until that point. If you’re a tall poppy then the locals will take great delight in going out of their way to “cut you down to size”.
The NZ press is far from free – media is heavily controlled by a monied few, with reporting gagged by some of the most vicious defamation laws in the world. Even when holding full evidence of wrongdoing an editor will frequently kill a story because the legal costs of defending defamation proceedings are high and truth is not the absolute defence that it is in most other places. All any public(ish) figure has to do is whisper “libel case” and the press goes quiet.
Kiwis may think they live in God’s own country, in their quarter acre, kiwifruit quaffing, pavlova paradise, but from the outside looking back in, it’s a country which is looking sicker and sicker.
The story about boiling frogs tends to spring to mind.”
You may also be interested in
The PencilSword: Holes – How many of us only see ‘our’ New Zealand? Toby Morris reflects on the need to be honest with ourselves. (or How New Zealanders trick their brains into seeing the world they want to see)
“it’s easy to look our and see the world we expect to see. We mistake our view of the world for how the world really is.
So I wonder, as a country, what else are we blanking out? There’s child poverty of course, one in four kids (sic) that’s a hole. Domestic violence. Youth suicide.” read on
Lev Lafayette
The Wireless.co.nz“What are you talking about?
We all know there is no depression in New Zealand.
We have no dole queues,
We have no drug addicts,
We have no racism,
We have no sexism, sexism, no, noWe have no SIS,
We have no secrets,
We have no rebellion;
We have no valium, valium, no, noThere is no depression in New Zealand.
And there is no depression on your lawn.”
E2NZ.org 
Shocked and/or surprised ? Don’t be ,N.Z corruption does begin at the top levels of govt and flow down through our society,guess what ,bribery here is often labeled as an incentive payment !Wonder how many of those go on actually it’s legal under N.Z law to bribe foreign officials as long as the value of the benefit is “small” and that it is paid to expedite an action the official would have already done .hehe no lies that’s what the law states
Great article.
A lot of people I know aren’t bad, but they don’t realize what’s happening here because they don’t see or experience it ever. It annoys me and I get tired of explaining things.
I’m a born kiwi, grew up there. Still have plenty of family there. I’ve been away for nearly 20 years and I simply couldn’t believe how bad things were. Awful place, just awful. The culture is now as phoney as the infomercials they so love, on costly SKY tv which is full of ads. I went back optimistic. I could invest some money into a business, and had arranged to be with an amazing kiwi woman, whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. lasted 3 months before I bolted. Heartbroken I was, but it felt great to escape.
Turns out New Zealand in general, like most of its women, is just looking for its next boozy meal ticket.
Run for the hills!
Good decision ,they would have ripped off your investment capital anyway,I’ve lost over $200,000 in scams here ,both times endorsed by professional Kiwi accountants ,it’s to much of a mine field to step in,coupled with this there’s a certain National pride in ripping off a foreigner ,you most likely don’t think of yourself as a foreigner but this is how they see you after your extended absence.I left here in 1989 and returned 3 years ago apparently I am a foreigner even though I always maintained my kiwi identity ,obviously I was in a time warp ,stuck in the days when there was a little more moral integrity here.In regard to Kiwi woman ,unless they have extensive experience living and working outside of N.Z and possibly Australia,again great decision ,your heartache will pass and your bank account will not be tapped into by a lazy slob with no job and no game.
boiling frogs? or kissing several horrible frogs just wishing they would turn into something like princess. From the horrendous customer service to the money men greedy to over charge on the most necessary profane items,(electricity, power) to the farming warthogs content spraying 1080. An average kiwi will not blink twice kissing ass of the whole murdering soulless nation. Not my monkey, not my circus springs to mind.
Talking about horrendous customer service !
we went to have a cup of tea in Christchurch recently..hold on !
Unfortunately we left the restaurant with an horrible experience. We have lived in Christchurch for almost four years and we truly enjoy most restaurants in the city.. mainly Asian and Indian though.
But this was absolutely the worst customer service experience we ever had in our whole life !
Around 8.00pm this night we arrived and I was waiting at the counter but non of the employees came for assistance. The boy went to help somebody in the restaurant and the girl just continued her cleaning up work. So I went to the toilet.
When I came back I could order a tea for two with the boy.
I went to sit with my husband and waited for about 15 minutes while we saw them both serving out other customers.
It was the longest time we ever waited on a tea and the restaurant wasn’t very full. so I decided to ask the boy if it was still coming since I had paid.
He said he was still busy cleaning some glasses. And I went back to my seat. Finally the girl arrived with one cup of tea. So I told her I ordered two tea..
She came back with an empty cup and teapot with no tea in it… !!
My husband was already paying for another tea while we already paid 4.50 for two tea..
I asked her if this was a joke and that I wanted to speak to the manager. She became very upset and wanted to fight me !! I found this quite intimidating.
While my husband was already paying for the second teacup.. It even looked like she was about to get aggressive.
While other customers were watching this strange situation.. Unbelievable! How rude they were!!
Yes this is normal in N.Z ,the customer is always wrong and could be assaulted by thuggish restaurant staff if a situation arises whereby you question their right to treat you like a piece of shit.Drink your tea at home ,save your money and get out of here to a civilised society.
My goodness !! Sounds like good advice to me..makes good sence. This experience just indeed pushed us to our final decision we cannot take it any longer.. Whatever joboffer arises in Europe , we will take it and drop our residence visa.
They usually never get aggressive with other kiwis though, well, not unless they are confident they could win the fight. Also the amount of times I’ve been into somewhere with a foreigner and the staff become the nicest people because I’m there and they know their bs aint going to work, yet if the foreign individual is alone they get treated like garbage.
Out and out stand over extortion,they assume they will never see the tourist again so attempt to extort money from them often with a thinly veiled threat of physical intimidation,it’s a one off cash grab and they aren’t the least bit concerned how it effects the reputation or tourism industry in general,we could write to the minister of tourism and complain,hahaha oh yeah ,that would be the Prime minister of N.Z John Key,anyway ,this kind of stuff does happen in the seedier parts of the world where there are no checks and balances on unscrupulous businesses ,kind of like our entire country of N.Z
I suppose the staff is specifically trained & rewarded for being aggressive. I’m not surprised though.
We went to an authentic Italian pizza place run by an old Italian couple in Tauranga (CBD) once, it was around 9:30 pm – I was delighted to see their passion to cook food at that late time of the night.
The moment we walked out of the restaurant at the closest junction we saw some wasted youth drinking (from god knows whose money) and just yelling on the streets.
It was a strange experience but we literally saw the “problem” – passion (or lack of it) in people defines the society here. The youth (in-general) is so wasted with lack of any self-discipline.