I used to put thermal plastic sheeting on my windows to keep warm in winter. This reinforced many New Zealanders’ distrust of intellectual theory, as many consider that the reforms increased poverty and inequality in New Zealand. The government and migration agencies are dressing New Zealand up and not being honest about what it is really like here – THAT is my biggest gripe. I perceive that they “make do” valiantly with what they have. Work and Income (WINZ) will ask you if you receive an overseas pension. At home, I had a gas furnace (not a standalone heater) and my heating was, under a special distributive program where they spread the money out for winter heating to summer months so you don’t get these big lumps to pay in winter) about 80 a month USD (that’s about, what, 100 NZD?). A major break with this tradition came in the 1980s when the fourth Labour and fourth National governments enacted a series of reforms based on free market ideology. I had money to travel and visit people. Because New Zealanders often have to relocate to achieve worldwide fame and fortune, New Zealanders are keen to claim famous people as being New Zealanders, however short their residency in New Zealand might have been. Sign in|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites. This recent story is from the discussion forum Expatexposed . While the Government legally confiscates your money and submits your pension payments to means-testing, it pays full NZ Super to each and every millionaire who has never left the country. This is linked with the idea of ‘kiwi ingenuity’ (see above), which supposes that all problems are better solved by seeing what works than by applying a theory. This recent story is from the discussion forum Expatexposed. They should be honest that THAT is what it is – making do on a cute remote island. Not an arcane “lifestyle” to be aspired to (cue: clink wineglass of Sauvignon Blanc, look out to blue water, flash impossibly white teeth at partner that you would never see on a Kiwi because most of them don’t do dental). If you have worked overseas for ten or twenty years, this will leave you with a few dollars or no NZ Super at all, and you fully depend on the payments from overseas. BIG MISTAKE, University Lecturer Misled Over Job Offer, 7 Months In And No Work For Tradesman Husband, New Zealand Is Like A Postcard, "There is no sense of history or magic here", No Work In Blenheim, Moved To Christchurch, Three Weeks In. Nothing more than that. ( Log Out /  Links to relevant relationship pages further down in this column. You might have lived and worked for many years in New Zealand but you will not receive a cent of NZ Super if you leave the country before you turn 65. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. This is exacerbated by New Zealand’s isolation and small population causing it to be skipped by the international tours of all but the most commercially successful musicians and performers. This is admirable, and I’d do it if I had to, but why pay out the nose to do that? They are affected themselves or know someone who is affected: their children, their grandchildren, friends. The poster also tells of how carefully ‘Brand New Zealand’ is manipulated to attract people who turn out to be unsuitable migrants: “I am so tired of Kiwis making a virtue of necessity. A Singaporean Says Living In NZ Different Experience – Updated, Teacher Duped By The Hype, Couldn't Find Work, We Chose To Go With New Zealand. It is called. I do not consider that the people of New Zealand are beneath me. I don’t think you’re aware of how carefully they manipulate Brand New Zealand to attract people who in actuality turn out to be highly unsuitable migrants. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Finally something that doesn't have to do with pension and retirement but can also impoverish unsuspecting immigrants: If you get into a relationship in New Zealand, negotiate and sign a pre-nuptial agreement before the third anniversary even of a de-facto relationship, or you might lose half of everything you have brought into the relationship. Life in New Zealand is the best I have ever known. Immigrants and refugees have a tough time settling in New Zealand, and it’s costing them – and us – dearly”, “New Zealand has never been particularly welcoming to immigrants, but a National Business Review-Phillip Fox poll this month suggested that attitudes of ordinary New Zealanders to non-white immigrants are hardening.”, “The requirements for immigration and the requirements for registration [as a teacher] are very different and it’s never been made explicit. Those at the bottom of the socioeconomic heap who have most contact with them often perceive them as a threat. But once you retire, you are treated like a greedy parasite. Pocock and Alan MacDiarmid. And still the Government calls this abysmal treatment of migrants and an ever-increasing number of its own citizens fair, claiming. Continuing in our series of Migrant Stories: first hand accounts of migrant life in New Zealand, taken from locations around the net. Change ). Immigrants and more and more Kiwis returning from living and working overseas who might have no other retirement income or savings but their overseas pensions are fleeced off their hard-earned money while Kiwi millionaires receive a social welfare benefit. Just LIVING here occupies enough of their effort, so ok, it’s understandable (Google “culture of New Zealand”, “anti-intellectualism” if you think I am being a snob). It’s easy to have that happen to you if you have no family here to cushion your setbacks for you. Here, you are FORCED to live that way just to keep your head above water, and you are lucky if you can save anything. The rules were created to protect women who raised children and lost their earning power during a longterm marriage, which was right, but surely not for guys who abuse their partners and then take off and ruin their partners' lives by ripping them off financially. It tells how grinding penny pinching becomes a way of life in NZ with nothing to compensate it, rather than a short term measure to get ahead. Don’t Move to New Zealand “I am so tired of Kiwis making a virtue of necessity – there’s nothing here to compensate for the forced pennypinching” This story was originally published on … For many years this was a common occurrence, and a consequence both of New Zealanders’ attitudes and the low population which made it hard to support major research. The housewives use everything but the squeal. The bad news: The Direct Deduction Policy, however, remains. ( Log Out /  This sometimes leads to famous people and innovations being identified as coming from both New Zealand and another country—such as the pop group Crowded House, the race horse Phar Lap and the actor Russell Crowe, all of whom have been associated with Australia and New Zealand. It should be noted that both Rutherford and Pocock spent most of their professional lives in Britain.