Nah Bro, I’m a New Zealander eh
In these troubling times, with US citizens being told to prepare for the possibility of chemical and biological warfare with the aid of a roll of duct tape, a plastic shower curtain and a bar of soap, and Australians being told to prepare for terrorist attack with the aid of a fridge magnet, I thought it would be refreshing to take a glance across the Tasman at what our neighbours are saying.
Well, in a statement on 11 February, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke’s remarks included:
- “We do not support unilateral action against Iraq."
- New Zealand was seeking to uphold the principles of multilateralism, the international rule of law and the authority of the United Nations Security Council.
- If armed intervention was sanctioned by the Security Council, New Zealand would consider offering humanitarian, medical or logistical support, probably after the conflict had ended.
How cool is that? Apparently Iraq is just really not much of an issue for New Zealanders, apart from wondering what a bunch of other mad bastards are planning to do to each other.
I’m totally a fan of New Zealand right now. Not only does New Zealand have a female Prime Minister, a female Governor General, and a female Chief Justice, they also have the world’s first transsexual MP (The Hon. Georgina Beyer, a Maori ex-sex worker voted in by a largely white, rural electorate) and a Rastafarian MP. They care about the environment. They are nice to refugees. They make good wine. They got really, really excited about The Lord of the Rings.
This is a country where last year the Prime Minister said she was far too busy going to a meeting of left-leaning government leaders to be arsed to go back home just because the Queen was visiting, and that anyway it was patently ridiculous that England’s Queen was New Zealand’s Head of State. It was left to The Hon. Georgina to go meet the Queen at the airport instead.
New Zealand is a truly beautiful country (as you can see from my photo link), the people are really friendly (provided you are not arguing about rugby or cricket), unemployment is at 4.9%, and the NZ$ is currently worth A$0.93. The automatic right of residency that Australians have in New Zealand is starting to look really good right now.
In these troubling times, with US citizens being told to prepare for the possibility of chemical and biological warfare with the aid of a roll of duct tape, a plastic shower curtain and a bar of soap, and Australians being told to prepare for terrorist attack with the aid of a fridge magnet, I thought it would be refreshing to take a glance across the Tasman at what our neighbours are saying.
Well, in a statement on 11 February, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke’s remarks included:
- “We do not support unilateral action against Iraq."
- New Zealand was seeking to uphold the principles of multilateralism, the international rule of law and the authority of the United Nations Security Council.
- If armed intervention was sanctioned by the Security Council, New Zealand would consider offering humanitarian, medical or logistical support, probably after the conflict had ended.
How cool is that? Apparently Iraq is just really not much of an issue for New Zealanders, apart from wondering what a bunch of other mad bastards are planning to do to each other.
I’m totally a fan of New Zealand right now. Not only does New Zealand have a female Prime Minister, a female Governor General, and a female Chief Justice, they also have the world’s first transsexual MP (The Hon. Georgina Beyer, a Maori ex-sex worker voted in by a largely white, rural electorate) and a Rastafarian MP. They care about the environment. They are nice to refugees. They make good wine. They got really, really excited about The Lord of the Rings.
This is a country where last year the Prime Minister said she was far too busy going to a meeting of left-leaning government leaders to be arsed to go back home just because the Queen was visiting, and that anyway it was patently ridiculous that England’s Queen was New Zealand’s Head of State. It was left to The Hon. Georgina to go meet the Queen at the airport instead.
New Zealand is a truly beautiful country (as you can see from my photo link), the people are really friendly (provided you are not arguing about rugby or cricket), unemployment is at 4.9%, and the NZ$ is currently worth A$0.93. The automatic right of residency that Australians have in New Zealand is starting to look really good right now.
posted by Marissa @ 5:32 pm
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