TVNZ are having a slow news day , and trotting out this tired pile of dingo poo yet again ? Stupid , and boring .

They must have soft , simple heads down in the bowels of TVNZ . Too many years of living large at the tax-payers' expense .

Here's a survey for you , TVNZ : How many respondents feel that TVNZ should be fully commercialised , and floated onto the stock-exchange as a publicly listed company . That oughta focus your attention on the bigger issues in life , and not the inanities . And meebee it'll stop you from wasting $ 700 000 or so of tax-payers' munny on fool newsreaders who don't know one end of a finance company from t'other .

Agree with Bernard, Europeans would like to have their own currency back! I have family and friends over there, they all regret having voted at the relevant poll years ago to join the EU. The bigger any administration gets, the more expensive, no efficiency in getting anything properly done, and what's being done is regulating businesses and people to a choking death with red tape.

Nothing like a good dose of poodle media BS to distract the peasants long enough for their pockets to be picked clean. When will this crap end?.
Why can't tvnz do a better job...oh I know...it's because they don't have to!

I'm all for uniting with Australia but I think the poll asks the wrong question - i.e. should we become a state or not.

It should be possible to unite in such a way that we retained our identity and had more sovereignty than a state by entering a federation that for practical purposes ceded much sovereignty but in a way that we remained separate countries for as many international purposes as possible (sporting and seats on international tables etc).

People want to retain their identity - I am a New Zealander and proud of it' they don't want to call themselves 'Australian'. They could still do this. The fact that Scotland is part of the UK does not make people any the less Scottish - they can still say I'm Scottish and support their football and rugby teams (although not olympic and in UN). The fact that Ireland is part of the EU doesn't make the inhabitants any less Irish.

A large part of the EU's problems stem from the fact that Swedes, French, Greeks, Brits etc.. are very different peoples with fundamentally different value systems and ways at looking at the world. For all our nit-picking Australians and New Zealanders are at the end of the day much closer in almost every way than say the Greeks and Germans - we all speak the same language and shares religions and values and are similar ethnically.

Texas is very different from Vermont in terms of values and economy and yet they manage to live in the same country and share a common currency.

It would be advantagious at some times and disadvantage at others
Overall for the reasons BH mentions above NO.
Then there are the social issues, identity ....
The compradeship of generations ..ANZAC is fine and shouldnt go further.
Then the legal issues, tidied to Aussie Fredual laws and such which would not be applicable here...health , welfare, education etc...the Aussie states have enough lissues as it is.
Then there is the Treaty of Waitangi no way would the Aussies go down that route..
Maybe that would be a +ve????
One country one people one flag.

But overall a big NO.

The European and US private incorporated investment banks already own us, and Australia for that matter, via their controlling stakeholdings in what are refered to as the Australian Banks, all the rest is horse play really.

The European and US private incorporated investment banks already own us, and Australia for that matter, via their controlling stakeholdings in what are refered to as the Australian Banks, all the rest is horse play really.

Yes, it's like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

Even to consider - what a stupid idea - not much more I have to say.

water water water

we've got it

they ain't got it

I wonder where this whole idea of "merging" is really coming from....

Nicola - in reality they've more water than they need - at times more of Qld alone is under water than the whole of NZ - they've just gotta manage it. They should have directed a lot more of their stimulus money and a lot more before and after and on an ongoing basis to storage, pipelines catchments etc. Throw enough brainpower, $$$ and infrastructure at the problem and its fixable - look at Las Vegas how did it get like it is where it is - a massive think big project that succeeded.

Look at the amount of $$$ Rudd and co threw at first home owners, home insulation, new classrooms no one wanted, cash handouts to everyone and sundry to spend at casinos, pokies and plasmas ( the list goeson) and which is now starting to be seen as short term panic thinking and a stuff up. This could have been the start of dealing with the water problem.

This is some kind of an April Fool's joke right? I'm just an American who lived in NZ for a few yrs but I find the idea of giving up NZ sovereignty for any reason to be laughable - and some what offensive. I cannot imagine any practical reason to cede sovereignty - it's just a stupid idea.

New Zealand should and will become a State of OZ. NZ would benefit from being part of OZ. How ridiculous it is to have so many politician, civil servants, etc for less than 4 million people. NZ is too small. Look at the stats, we are falling back behind lost of OECD countries. Only way to catch up with OZ is to be part of it. Swallow your pride and move on for better !

voting is academic really - when the the money runs out for our growing unproductive sector then our biggest creditor will just assume control. There will be no vote. Both our Ponzi economies are heading down the same road its just we will default first.

Wouldn't the inflationary pressure from lower interest rates would have been offset by the fact that Australia has a capital gains tax?

Any union would require tax union, at least at the federal level. New Zealand as a state would still be able to levy it's own taxes, but the federal taxes (which I believe includes cap gains?) would be the same.

Why this talk of becoming the 7th state? With a population of over W.A, S.A, and Tasmania combined we should be joining as 3 states. North, Central, and South NZ. this would even out some of the perceived Oz bias in monetary policy. Tasmanians are Tasmanians first and Australians 2nd as NZers would be. South NZ would have their own parliament and not have to tolerate being dictated to by North NZers

Family considerations apart, the underlying basis as whether or not the events and changes over the past century have drawn Australia and New Zealand even closer together (or further apart) needs to also be considered in light of some of today’s other realities, emotions notwithstanding.

I surmise that the now estimated 460,000+ Kiwis who’ve voted with their feet and crossed over to live and work in Australia have done so mainly to take advantage of opportunities in a now richer country. There is nothing wrong with that. But raising the question of again merging with the Commonwealth on the basis of economic advantages alone doesn’t quite fully explain what’s in the minds of the majority of 89.3% of Kiwis who so far have elected to stay put in their own soil.

If you want to know my take on this subject, just go to: http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/kiwiroos-all-eh/

and let me know what you also think.

What is "search engion optimsation" Karl?

I have read all these bogs from New Zealanders who oppose NZ joining the Australian Federation. I am an Australian who resides in Sydney.

It all boils down to this.Australia with a population of only 22 million is about the worlds 14th or 15th biggest economy based on GDP per head of population.In 1900 it had the worlds highest standard of living and in 2010 it still has one of the worlds highest standards of living and is the only western nation which is essentially debt free and absolutely booming. It has been booming for the last 60 years, especially the last 13 years and has one of the brightest futures of any nation with a wide and culturally different population mix that has been successfully melded into a very culturally and economically vibrant society.

New Zealanders shunned the immigration policies of Australia which quite literally took in the world's population and all it has to offer as migrants and instead of clung to mother England for too long.A fatal mistake for any small or medium country, be it Australia or NZ.

Many of the blogs i have read are mostly insular in outlook and typical of the kind of thinking that will make NZ continue down the path of increasing debt and declining living standards to become an even smaller Pacific island nation with increasingly limited opportunities.The call for self government for the South island is typical of such parochial thinking.

NZ is a great place with a huge potential provided it is part of a bigger tax base and a bigger popuation .People shouldn't have to leave NZ to get experience or become known.New Zealanders are as much if not more like Australians and vice a versa as many who migrate here.Australia and New zealand should be one.

I have visited this site.it give me information about work from home. i like to know more about this site.
This site is very helpful for work from home.

work from home

Thanks

Yes New Zeeland should join Australia for a few simple reasons

1) New Zealand never has and never will have any money (very little not enough for the country to compete with EU, Australia and North America)

2). New Zealand is a relatively poor country and has very few resources to combat the growing problem

3). New Zeeland exodus is reaching very high levels as a result of New Zealand never being able to afford the salaries that are on offer in UK, Australia, North America and a number of EU Member States.

4) Some of the new EU10 are ahead of New Zealand and are doing much better because these EU Member States have access to a lot of EU Funds.

5). If New Zeeland joined Australia New Zealand would be better protected from the economic crisis which is making New Zealand go backwards in certain areas.

6) New Zealand can benefit from a huge and substantially wealthier and more developed market.

7) New Zealand can have better infrastructure and other neccessities. (New Zealand has very poor infrastructure and poor roads)