Hey mate, here's why New Zealand should become a state of Australia

Thursday, 27 April 2023

Rory Bunker is a data scientist and economist, currently based in Japan.

OPINION: In the lead-up to Anzac Day, Prime Ministers Chris Hipkins and Anthony Albanese announced significant changes to the treatment of New Zealand citizens living in Australia.

Those changes mean that New Zealand citizens can now apply for Australian citizenship after four years of holding a special category visa, and children born to New Zealand citizens living in Australia will now receive Australian citizenship at birth, rather than at age 10.

The Aboriginal people have inhabited the Australian continent for tens of thousands of years, and in the 100 years since the British arrived in the late 1700s, six separate colonies were formed: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

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**

Conferences that ultimately led to the formation and Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth took place in the early to mid-1890s.

By 1895, however, New Zealand had decided not to take part in the Federation of Australia.

Australia finally became a nation in 1901, when the six colonies united. But the option remains for New Zealand – under clause 6 of the Australian Constitution – to join Australia should it wish to do so.

Perhaps the time for New Zealand to exercise that option has arrived.

Joining Australia would provide significant economic benefits for New Zealand. Trade and investment would become more frictionless. The nations’ economies would also become immediately more diversified: New Zealand into resources and Australia into dairy.

Australia is, of course, the larger economy and economies of scale would result in efficiencies both in the private and public sectors. In the private sector, retailers such as Aldi Australia would have fewer barriers to establishing themselves in the New Zealand market, leading to lower prices for basic goods for New Zealand consumers.

The Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) contains de-identified, linked data on, for example, the health and education of households and individuals, and is sourced from government agencies, non-government organisations, and Stats NZ surveys.

Australia had already established its Australian Data Linkage System (ADSL) in 2001 and its success was a major factor in the New Zealand government establishing its own. In 2018, the Australian and New Zealand governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-operate on data linkage – including sharing of data.

The 2½-year “Australian and New Zealand Leaders, Elections and Democracy Data Asset” (ANZLEAD) project to create linked data between Australia and New Zealand – involving six major Australian universities, the Australian Electoral Commission, as well as the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington – has been under way since January 2021 and involves a co-investment of A$404,662 from the Australian Research Data Commons.

Had Australia and New Zealand been one country, this type of duplication of work would not have taken place.

The Australian governmental system has three layers: the central, state and local governments, whereas the New Zealand system has two: central and local. The involvement of central government in local council decisions, such as those related to water assets in the Three Waters project, would be much more difficult under Australia’s form of governance.

The difference in the two-layer and three-layer systems was also seen during the Covid-19 response. While the central government of New Zealand dictated the response directly, in Australia, state and territory governments largely directed the responses of their respective regions.

The response of New South Wales, which opened up earlier, differed from the response of its neighbour to the south, Victoria, which under Premier Daniel Andrews had a more strict approach to lockdowns.

Countries with more decentralisation have generally enjoyed more freedom and prosperity as a consequence than countries with more centralisation.

The centrally-planned Soviet Union collapsed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, while countries with federal systems of government, such as Australia and the United States, have continued to prosper.

Australia has a strong military and security presence in the Asia-Pacific region. In the first two decades of the new millennium, Australia’s military expenditure as a percentage of its GDP averaged 1.85%, while New Zealand averaged 1.3% of its GDP.

According to Australia’s Lowy Institute’s Asia Power Index, Australia’s conventional military strength is now ranked 7th in the region – above North Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, which are all nations with compulsory conscription.

New Zealand ranks 15th in this index.

The combined militaries of “Australasia” would be able to better ensure the safety and security of citizens and provide a strong deterrent against potential threats.

It is well-known that some migrants – those who perhaps do not have the ability to obtain permanent residency through skilled migration to Australia – have historically used New Zealand as a “back door” to Australia.

By obtaining a work visa in New Zealand, they obtain permanent residency in New Zealand, then New Zealand citizenship, and then migrate across the ditch.

This hasn't been an ideal situation for either country, though. For Australia, it has given the country less control over the migrants coming to its country, and for New Zealand, it has put temporary pressure on housing as well as on services such as health and transport – without any real long-term payback.

Around 670,000 New Zealanders call Australia home, and many more have family members living across the ditch.

As neighbouring countries, Australia and New Zealand have a long history of close ties and shared values.

Anzac Day is a chance to reflect on this.

The societies are similar, share common values, and would be stronger together.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Integrated Data Infrastructure IDI was known as RealMe. (Amended, 12.04pm, May 4, 2023).