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The Aussies, and come to that our own prime minister, have gone overboard telling us what a great deal they\\u2019ve done for New Zealanders living in Australia.
\\nAnd on the face of it, yes. It\\u2019s a great deal for our people already living across the ditch.
\\nSix, maybe seven-hundred thousand of them.
\\nMuch, much easier now for them to achieve security of tenure, and access to the kinds of services and benefits we\\u2019ve carried on giving Australians living here, despite the unilateral and acts of the Howard regime back in 2001.
\\nBut don\\u2019t for a minute think this is some great gesture of trans-Tasman mateship on the part of the Aussies.
\\nAnd don\\u2019t be sucked in by the fact it\\u2019s been announced over ANZAC weekend, when we acknowledge that long standing bond.
\\nThis is an entirely economic move by Australia, designed to hold on to the hard-working New Zealanders it\\u2019s until now grudgingly tolerated.
\\nAustralia knows our people are more likely than their own people to have a job \\u2014any job\\u2014 maybe partly because for the past 20 years they haven\\u2019t been able to get welfare.
\\nThe Australian government also knows its health system and so much else in its economy relies on ex-pat New Zealand workers.
\\nAnd now, in the midst of a global skills shortage, it\\u2019s reluctantly taking steps to keep those it\\u2019s already got and make itself more attractive to others it wants to poach from here.
\\nThere\\u2019s a lot of numbers floating around but just in the case of nurses, reports suggest we could lose five thousand in pretty short order.
\\nSo while chippy\\u2019s pitching this as a win, it\\u2019s anything but and it\\u2019s come at the worst possible time for us.
\\nWe 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.
\\nOtherwise 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.
\\nAnd what about the elephant in the room: The 501s.
\\nDoes this great new strengthening of our family say anything about that toxic issue? Nope. Not a word.
\\nThe numbers are apparently down in the past few months, but the Aussies are keeping the character test in their citizenship process.
\\nThat\'s what they use to chuck out New Zealanders they don\'t want and there\'s no change there.
\\nAustralia will cherry pick the best and carry on sending back the riff-raff.
\\nCan\'t see one good thing in this for us.
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