This election was so little reported here in Australia, that in a straw poll of twenty people I conducted in the last seven days:
1) 15 did not know New Zealand was going to the polls Saturday.
2) 16 did not know the name of the opposition leader/Prime Ministerial candidate.
3) Not a single one knew the name of the opposition deputy leader/Deputy Prime Ministerial candidate.
The election result story was printed on page 36 of this country's largest selling newspaper this morning.
Make nothing of it. It's just an observation about our nearest neighbour, ANZAC alliance partner, close trading associate nation and the only other prosperous western democracy in this corner of the world. Since most of Australia's twenty millions live on the south-east coast, the two nations with a shared heritage practically stare at each other over the Tasman Sea.
No wait, it's an observation about Australian media, not New Zealand.
Footnote: the headline writers have already exhausted their pun supply.
1) 15 did not know New Zealand was going to the polls Saturday.
2) 16 did not know the name of the opposition leader/Prime Ministerial candidate.
3) Not a single one knew the name of the opposition deputy leader/Deputy Prime Ministerial candidate.
The election result story was printed on page 36 of this country's largest selling newspaper this morning.
Make nothing of it. It's just an observation about our nearest neighbour, ANZAC alliance partner, close trading associate nation and the only other prosperous western democracy in this corner of the world. Since most of Australia's twenty millions live on the south-east coast, the two nations with a shared heritage practically stare at each other over the Tasman Sea.
No wait, it's an observation about Australian media, not New Zealand.
Footnote: the headline writers have already exhausted their pun supply.
I fear what will happen to clean green little NZ under a party with no environmental policy :(
ReplyDeleteI have an uncle in Clyde, AOF. My cousins grow the world's best fresh fruit and export it to Japan. I hope the new government looks after the place.
ReplyDeleteUm, I know nearly nothing about NZ politics. But I'm in the US. I can converse semi-intelligently about Canada.
ReplyDeleteSure hope the Kiwis have better luck fwith their right-wing government than we've had with ours. Of course their new PM probably isn't as stupid as our current president. I'm not sure it's possible.