Tim Dower: I can't see anything good in this deal for us

The Aussies, and come to that our own prime minister, have gone overboard telling us what a great deal they’ve done for New Zealanders living in Australia.

And on the face of it, yes. It’s a great deal for our people already living across the ditch.

Six, maybe seven-hundred thousand of them.

Much, much easier now for them to achieve security of tenure, and access to the kinds of services and benefits we’ve carried on giving Australians living here, despite the unilateral and acts of the Howard regime back in 2001.

But don’t for a minute think this is some great gesture of trans-Tasman mateship on the part of the Aussies.

And don’t be sucked in by the fact it’s been announced over ANZAC weekend, when we acknowledge that long standing bond.

This is an entirely economic move by Australia, designed to hold on to the hard-working New Zealanders it’s until now grudgingly tolerated.

Australia knows our people are more likely than their own people to have a job —any job— maybe partly because for the past 20 years they haven’t been able to get welfare.

The Australian government also knows its health system and so much else in its economy relies on ex-pat New Zealand workers.

And now, in the midst of a global skills shortage, it’s reluctantly taking steps to keep those it’s already got and make itself more attractive to others it wants to poach from here.

There’s a lot of numbers floating around but just in the case of nurses, reports suggest we could lose five thousand in pretty short order.

So while chippy’s pitching this as a win, it’s anything but and it’s come at the worst possible time for us.

We need to ask ourselves why, on a GDP per person basis, Australians are one-third wealthier than we are. And we need to fix that.

Otherwise this deal will take new Zealand back 20 years to the days when we were a clearing house for people ultimately wanting to live across the ditch.

And what about the elephant in the room: The 501s.

Does this great new strengthening of our family say anything about that toxic issue? Nope. Not a word.

The numbers are apparently down in the past few months, but the Aussies are keeping the character test in their citizenship process.

That's what they use to chuck out New Zealanders they don't want and there's no change there.

Australia will cherry pick the best and carry on sending back the riff-raff.

Can't see one good thing in this for us.

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