Australia–New Zealand relations
The Relationship between New Zealand and Australia is similar to that of other small countries with their much larger or influential neighbour, such as Canada with the United States, or Ireland with Britain.
Many New Zealanders have migrated to Australia, particularly to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Unlike citizens of other countries, New Zealand passport holders are issued with 'special category' visas on arrival in Australia, which allow them to live and work there. Although officially reciprocal, the traffic is essentially in one direction only; few Australians choose to live and work in New Zealand.
Consequently, 'Kiwis' in Australia are accused of taking local jobs or living on Australian social welfare benefits, although since 2001, New Zealanders must now wait two years before they are eligible for such payments. However, there are complaints in New Zealand that Australia is 'poaching' the country's best and brightest, with police forces, schools and hospitals in Australia 'headhunting' or recruiting aggressively across the Tasman.
New Zealand's economic ties with Australia are strong, especially since the demise of Britain as a trading partner following its decision to join the then European Economic Community in 1973, and in the 1980s, the two countries concluded the Closer Economic Relations agreement or CER, allowing each country access to the others markets.
Indeed the 1901 Australian Constitution included provisions to allow New Zealand to join Australia as its seventh state, even after the government of New Zealand had already decided against. From time to time the idea of joining Australia has been mooted, but opinion polls show New Zealanders overwhelmingly against. Even New Zealanders resident in Australia have been unenthusiastic, while for its part, the Australian government has expressed little interest.
While there is no prospect of political union now, there is still a great deal of similarity between the two cultures, with the differences often only obvious to Australians and New Zealanders themselves.
Many only realise how much the two nationalities have in common when they go to Europe to work and travel, although some New Zealanders are almost horrified at the idea that they have anything in common with Australians. When groups of young Kiwis and Aussies congregate together in European camping grounds, etc, it can be difficult to say which are which. However the Kiwis can soon be identified when a guitar is produced and Maori songs are sung.
Unlike Canadians and Americans, who share a land border that they can cross without passports, the geographical separation between New Zealand and Australia means that many have never visited the other's country. Many of them are more likely to have visited Europe, and this is especially true of Australians. When the Australian actress Cate Blanchett told US talkshow host David Letterman that her time on location in New Zealand filming The Lord of the Rings was her first visit to the country, he was genuinely surprised, while she was equally puzzled by his reaction.
The New Zealand - Australia relationship is less one of friendship than it is of brotherhood: New Zealanders and Australians often fall out over relatively minor matters - there are few more bitterly-contested sporting events than the trans-Tasman rugby matches; New Zealanders have never forgiven Australia for cricketer Trevor Chappell's underarm delivery; Australia's anger over the Air New Zealand/Ansett Airlines fiasco was sharper than could be easily explained by the mere facts, and so on.
New Zealanders regard Australians as loud and opinionated, while Australians ridicule New Zealanders as 'South Seas Poms' for their supposedly closer relationship with 'Mother England', yet underneath the name-calling and the petty grievances, in case of need New Zealanders and Australians have defended one another, epitomised by the ANZAC tradition.
Like Australians, New Zealanders have a 'love-hate' relationship with the UK, although anti-English sentiment is not as strong, and republicanism is not yet as emotive an issue as it is in Australia. While the UK, especially London, is the first port of call on the 'OE' or 'Overseas Experience' for most young Kiwis, they can often be dismissive of the so-called 'Mother Country', deriding 'Poms' as snobbish, inflexible, and backward-looking. New Zealanders felt badly about the UK's entry into the European Community in 1973, which deprived them of their main trading partner, and often feel affronted at being treated as 'Others' by British immigration at Heathrow.
See also List of similarities between Canada and New Zealand.
