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An Open Letter to All New Zealanders

person writing on brown wooden table near white ceramic mug
Photo by Green Chameleon. The BFD.

Dear fellow Kiwis,

I am writing to inform you that the ANZAC spirit of endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour and mateship, often in the face of danger, is as dead as the dodo, and you killed it.

For the last 18 months and counting, you have turned your backs on hundreds of thousands of Kiwis stranded overseas trying to get home.

While you have been enjoying your little Covid Eutopia in Fortress NZ, hundreds of thousands of your countrymen have been living a nightmare, stuck overseas, sometimes in dire straits, with the only available path home to see loved ones, family and friends being a lucky dip lottery that has a fraction of the capacity required to meet demand.

Don’t for one second think all these expat Kiwis are well paid lawyers working for the City in London or emerging market money managers in Asia. They are also tradies, hospo, sparkies and teachers, or any number of things Kiwis are good at. Heck, they could even be Kiwis who went on their OE, met a local and decided to settle down off-shore. They are all still 100%  Kiwis though and yet you have left them in no man’s land to stand for themselves and suffer their fate, come what may.

What’s that you say? “It’s not my decision, it’s the government”. Well in that case don’t go blaming the Ardern administration for the situation as they won the last election by a landslide. It was a Covid election and Kiwis voted for Labour in record-breaking numbers.

Never forget that politicians are politicians; they are all the same, it wouldn’t make a lick of difference if it were National or Act in power as their policies on the situation were no different to Labour. In fact, National and Act could be considered even more culpable.

They are happy now to bang on about He Puapua and how it will create tiers of citizenship and inequality. Well excuse me but isn’t a Kiwi living overseas who cannot get home to NZ a second-tier citizen?

My passport reads “The Governor General in the Realm of New Zealand requests in the name of Her Majesty The Queen all whom it may concern to allow the holder to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful assistance and protection.” Cough cough BS

Then you flick on the telly and Nek Minnit there’s the Black Caps winning the World Test Championships with mandatory isolation on their return to NZ. Did they have to find their MIQ online like the rest of us? Yeah Nah.

When you sit down to watch Fiji play the All Blacks this weekend ask yourself, did the Fijians have to find their MIQ like Kiwis do? ‘Cause if they didn’t then every member of the squad represents a Kiwi who can’t come home because you prefer to watch a game of footy instead.

That’s the rub. That’s why the ANZAC spirit is dead. It’s because you, people in NZ, don’t care about your fellow Kiwis anymore, especially if it doesn’t affect you.

There’s not much mention about the hassle and roadblocks a large portion of your countrymen are being forced to endure just to come home. There are no protests, no civil action, not a peep about the rights of the Kiwis stuck overseas aside from heartbreaking stories of tragedy, aimed more at click bait than any genuine concern.

Watching the Black Caps and All Blacks is important and if some of your countrymen have to miss out on their right to come home for a bit? Well, at least it’s not you aye bro!

So go about your business and back slap about your Covid free status and everything is awesome. So what if you had to leave a few mates behind. You’re doing well on the property market; it’s not affecting you. Life is good, don’t rock the boat. But that is not exactly the ANZAC spirit now is it?

Meanwhile the rest of the world has moved on, although you won’t hear that from the talking heads on your telly. America is back to normal more or less, Europe is close behind. Asia, aside from political holdouts, won’t be too far behind as they need the tourist dollars. All those workers in the hotel you once stayed at in Phuket, went back to the farm for subsistence living and 3rd world poverty. Fine for the individuals but not sustainable if you’re an emerging economy trying to lift millions of your people out of poverty.

So keep hiding under your duvets former ANZACs, it’s the safest option. But remember, you’re leaving mates out to dry and you’re not showing courage, or ingenuity, or mateship.

Good Luck!

Signed

Kiwi Overseas


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