“Top 5 Things Wrong With New Zealand”
For anyone wanting to get a feel for good old grass root opinions and issues in New Zealand you can’t go far wrong by logging on to the message boards at the NZ auction site Trademe.
Here’s a thread that was started on Wednesday about a topic that’s always guaranteed to get a good response. It drew the usual righteous indignation and denial, some people obviously didn’t understand the question and launched into what was right with NZ. However there were some who were capable of developing the theme further.
We picked up a distinct dissatisfaction with the justice system’s ability to deal effectively with crime, tax payers fed up with supporting a benefits culture, concerns over child welfare issues, problems with home affordability and New Zealand still being a country that’s divided on race with a lot of work to do to sort out both bigotry and racism.
Here’s the opening question:
Top 5 things wrong with New Zealand
“ATTN: If you are not capable of intelligently adding to this thread, then please refrain from doing so.
1. Housing prices.
Thank you former governments of NZ for creating a situation conducive to creating over investment in the housing market, and making investment in the productive sector unappealing.2. Cannabis Laws.
Let’s direct needed resources away from tackling P, and concentrate it on tackling Cannabis. What do I hear you saying? “You can’t legalize Cannabis!” “It’s bad!” Let me break it down for the people who believe Cannabis should remain illegal (including cannabis dealers). There is not an army of NZer’s waiting to smoke it, but don’t because it’s illegal. OK! People smoke it regardless of the law. Legalizing it would put Cannabis dealers out of business, free up resources to tackle P, reduce the amount of people in prison, increase tax revenue as Cannabis could then be sold commercially under the same restrictions of alcohol, and most importantly allow hemp to be grown on large scales across the country creating jobs, and allowing NZ to produce super eco-friendly hemp products for global export.3.Maori party.
What’s next? A Chinese party? An Indian party? Why not break all parties down to ethnicities and give them a fixed % of the vote!4. NZ’s unwillingness to adequately police our EEZ, which is the 5th largest in the world according to Wikipedia. Who needs a military down in Ol’ New Zealand. Australia will pay for our part of the cheque. They’re good like that.
5. The quality of television these days. Or am I one of the exceptions to the rule in regards to the lowest common denominator?”
(EEZ = exclusive economic zone, 200 miles out from shore around nz)”
Here are some responses from people who were able to contribute as required:
“The Justice Systems SUCKS, protects the law breakers more than the poor victims”
“NZ’s animal welfare laws need changing.. big time!
So losers that abuse animals are not just ’slapped over the arse with a wet bus ticket’ !”“1)Benefit culture
2) Treaty as a founding document and psuedo constitution
3)MMP system
4)Overseas ownership of land and industry
5)Free trade agreements that kill local production
and just for good measure…
6)Letting in migrants like Afghans,Thais and Africans whose culture is totally foreign to the existing one”“For me the top one is getting rid of “working for families” huge drain on the tax coffers. I know of people getting over $500 a week from working for families with only one parent working and only paying tax on that one income at $500 per week for one family its taking at least two working people’s tax to pay that. The rest of us that have worked hard, saved our money, brought up our kids without government help are now penalised. In our day you got married, saved your money, made a concious decision as to when you could afford a family and got no outside assistance. Nowdays you are literally being paid to breed. Whilst our elderly who had none of these benefits and our geuinally sick people are getting next to nothing to live on.”
“1)political corectness
2)benefit culture
3)weak prison sentencing laws
4)govt too gutless to tame housing market & make productive investments more attractive
5)too much business influence in education”“In my opinion THE worst thing about NZ is the extremely low value we place on the lives of our children. The Justice, Police and Welfare systems are quite clearly not cutting it. Family Court make judgements/orders that are never enforced. The Police don’t respond to 111 calls and Social Workers seem indifferent to keeping our children safe. Never mind how much we have to pay to buy a house…….how about protecting the new generation of NZ.”
“1 victim mentality
2 crime
3 benefit dependancy
4 child abuse
5 people who cannot handle other people doing well
6 people who tune in to wiifm what is in it for me”“1.) high crime rate, poor victim support and protection. also, poor justice system. we need tougher penalties for crimes. a life sentence should be a life sentence, not 12 years or whatever it is here.
2.) so much child abuse and neglect.
3.) military don’t seem to be prepared for anything. in all honesty, what would happen if we were attacked? would we be able to fight back?
4.) agree with insanityplus about police not responding to 111 calls. called 3 times for the police, was even hung up on twice. police turned up about 3 hours later when someone down the road called them…
5.) i agree with you 100% about the maori party #1. it’s sad that after all these years we still find the need to be divided.”“1. Racism and other assorted bigotry.
2. Laziness, lack of work ethic, ‘half-assed is good enough’ attitude.
3. Envy of anyone who is successful/rich/attractive.
4. Obsession with mindless sport at the expense of art/science etc.
5. Dumbing down of education and discouraging competition.”“racism
troughing MPs
relaxed sentencing
corrupt judges
giving addicts the benefit”“Kyliekyliekylie’s top 5 things wrong with New Zealand
*these arent in any specific order, they are the first things that pop into my head – i could go on – and its just my opinion.*
1 The average NZ person has no idea of the actual history of this country. There is no patriotism – NZ’ers consantly argue about the Treaty, one nation, land issues etc. I dont see how a country can be so unsure about its own history! Someone get it right and lets honour it!
2 Our media… one eyed, biased and gossipy, where have all the good, meaty journo’s gone???
3 The Cannibus debate… Alcohol vs Cannibus… look at the stats people, look at the stats….
4 Constantly comparing ourselves to Australia…. What about Denmark?? Voted Worlds Most Happiest People!!!
5 Our Government… who’s got all night??? ““1/ pc crap = more rules so reduce govt spending = low taxes
2/ One race country = kiwi no matter what colour
3/ No acc for sporting injuries – ie get ya own insurance
4/ No petrol tax on vehicles under 1300cc
5/ Arm police and treat car conversion as grand thief auto”“1. The pseudo-macho culture that blokes build around rugby/Ford/Holden/beer and the dopey Jackass mentality.
2. TV that is basically a commercial delivery service, punctuated occasionally by 8 minutes of irritating lowest-common-denominator programs.
3. A limp-wristed welfare system that disincentivizes the indolent from paying their own way.
4. Kiwi fixation with mediocre Kiwi music. Sure, you get the odd really good piece, but for the most part highly overrated. Kiwi acts even automatically get 4 stars in the Herald CD reviews….
5. Bad driving habits: indicating at the last minute, pulling out in front of you and crawling along, speeding up in overtaking lanes, lack of awareness of and consideration for other road users.
Bonus 6. a political system that fawns over an overindulged minority who are never content with anything.”“1. Our healthcare system going backwards towards user pays. sure it needs a shake up but privatising things isn’t going to help the most vulnerable.
2. Prison sentences are not harsh enough for violent crime, you get worse time for fraud than manslaughter. Multiple sentences should also not be able to be served at the same time.
3. Not enough funding for sports other than rugby.
4. Our broadband is shite compared to the rest of the world. Time to improve our infrastructure and get up with the times.
5. The price of meat and dairy products considering we are a farming nation.”
Today’s posts – click here
The ignorance of the people who posted these responses is mindblowing. Maybe it’s just down to a refusal to listen to/consider any explanation of these factors that are the “worst things about New Zealand.” Normally I wouldn’t bother responding to such a post, accepting that people with such negative mindsets are not going to accept anything I say, but seeing as I’m procrastinating the report I should be writing, I might as well…
“1. Housing prices”
Given that buying a 3 bedroom, 100sqm apartment in any city in Spain would set you back at the very least $500,000 NZD, we should count ourselves lucky that owning our own home by the time we’re 50 is a realistic possibility.
“2. Cannabis Laws.”
You have to be joking… For the record, I am strongly pro-legalisation of cannabis, but how is the fact that it remains illegal one of the worst things about this country? Are you under the impression that we’re one of the only countries in the world where it isn’t legal?
“5. The quality of television these days.”
If only having 4 dedicated free-to-air channels plus 100 odd channels on Sky is one of the things you hate most about this country, then there really can’t be a lot else to hate…
“2 crime
3 benefit dependency”
If you eliminate either one of these, the other will increase. Think about it. Who is most likely to sit on the unemployment benefit for a long period of time? Someone who wants something for nothing. What will happen if you no longer offer them the benefit? Will they think, “right, better get a job then” or will they get something for free by stealing it?
“3.) military don’t seem to be prepared for anything. in all honesty, what would happen if we were attacked? would we be able to fight back?”
The military don’t NEED to be prepared for an attack, because the chance of New Zealand being invaded is about the same as it being struck by a meteor. Firstly, who would attack us? Australia? Nope… USA? Nope… Iran? North Korea? Well, they might want to, but how do you suppose they would get from their respective country to New Zealand without being noticed? The international repercussions for any country invading ANY other country, let alone New Zealand, are/would be immense. In short, it will never happen. Guaranteed.
“4.) … police not responding to 111 calls …”
The police don’t not respond to calls because they can’t be bothered, it is because they have LIMITED resources, so must prioritise what calls they do receive in order of urgency. If you want a police force with enough resources to cover all calls that come in, it needs more funding. More funding requires higher taxation. Higher taxation is, presumably, something you are strongly against. Get your own priorities right – would you prefer a lower tax rate with less services, or a higher tax rate with more services? One thing that pisses ME off about this country is the disturbing amount of people who don’t seem to understand this concept…
“4 Constantly comparing ourselves to Australia…. What about Denmark?? Voted Worlds Most Happiest People!!!”
Nothing really to say to this, just want to point out that Denmark also has the highest personal tax rates in the world. Very few New Zealanders could possibly conceive being happy while paying tax rates of 50%
“5. Bad driving habits: indicating at the last minute, pulling out in front of you and crawling along, speeding up in overtaking lanes, lack of awareness of and consideration for other road users.”
You have clearly done very little travelling in your life… Ever been to South America? No? What about Italy, Spain or France? No? Then don’t make claims like that unless you have something to compare it to.
“1. Our healthcare system going backwards towards user pays. sure it needs a shake up but privatising things isn’t going to help the most vulnerable.”
I agree entirely, but also accept that socialised healthcare systems require a lot of funding, so I hope you’re not one of the majority of Kiwis who are on the ‘lower taxes’ bandwagon
“5. The price of meat and dairy products considering we are a farming nation.”
The prices we pay in shops have to reflect prices the producers can get by exporting these products overseas. Sure, they could strictly limit the amount exported and thereby make it MUCH cheaper for us to buy, but given that our economy is highly dependent on agriculture, doing so would make us a much poorer nation.
I would go on, but I can’t be bothered wasting any more of my time.
Don’t like the country? Then get out. No one’s keeping you here. Hope the grass you find really is greener.
Its not so much what NZ is compared with other countries but what we could be.
We are the richest most fortunate country in the world but as most people on this forum have found out, we are intent on ruining what we have.
The example of housing prices is an example. With our low population, there is no need for our housing to be expensive. The main costs of housing are the land which is squeezed by bureaucratic zoning and a raft of red tape to keep it expensive. The bureaucracy does not stop there as everything in your new house needs to be meticulously specified in order to get through the morass. (This includes the distance from your oven to the bench top just to mention an example).
Healthcare Kiwi style is another point. The cost of getting the government to do everything for us makes us end up with third rate health care at a premium cost to us, the tax payers. Why do I struggle to maintain private healthcare coverage if the Health Care here is adequate? Yes there was blood on the walls and indolent nurses in the ward where my father died!
Social welfare where even middle income earners end up on a benefit. Why do we think the government can do everything for us when they are particularly bad at it. A middle income earner spends two dollars in taxation towards his benefit and receives about one in return. The rest goes towards government costs. The hire of those obtuse bureaucrats and the expensive buildings to house them.
In other words Kiwi’s seem quite happy to let this country slip towards total socialism.
Probably better to say communism if only on account of the disproportionate powers of our unicameral government.
How socialist are we?
Well complete socialism/communism is identified by a 100% income taxation and everyone receives a benefit form the government. (Supposed to make everyone rich and equal).
In New Zealand current taxes on the income are about 50% when you consider income tax, GST petrol tax and all the other myriad taxes that we now pay. Carbon/ ETS tax just simply being a new one.
We are half way there folks. Lets get out to Aus, they are only about 34% there.
Roger
http://www.rogerfromnewzealand.wordpress.com
Thanks for your contribution but all of those comments are quotes made by Kiwis about their own country. We did say these were grass roots opinions.
Lots of New Zealanders know there’s far better to be had outside the country, and since there’s nothing ‘keeping them’ there have decided to leave. The mass exodus has started up again, they’re leaving in their thousands.
It’s really a shame because a larger population would generate the tax revenue needed to pay for a better funded police force and safer roads. It would create more/better paid jobs for all and less dependence on welfare handouts. People would be able to afford to buy those expensive meat and dairy products.
You should read these posts starting with Kiwis leaving for Australia at a 12 month high and read some of the reasons why. Or you could watch the video “the exodus continues” in the video box in the sidebar and enlighten yourself further.
Here’s one of the comments someone made:
via Motella. If New Zealand were a motel (photo is funny)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_frPILdvPYyI/TEuV4ohE_AI/AAAAAAAADcU/SCDpxcBLGOM/s1600/634069017940116965-welcometoourmotel.jpg
the article -
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10660540