Culture clash

New Zealanders are moving to Australia in droves. The job market here is poor and salaries are low, so it’s a fair assumption that they’re moving to Australia in order to pay the bills.

Sometimes New Zealanders move to Australia and become famous. Sometimes the Australian media dares to suggest that these “famous” Kiwis are Australian. This is a terrible crime in New Zealand and is considered newsworthy.

I read one such article in the New Zealand Herald this week. It begins, “Australia has claimed Kiwi sensation Kimbra”. I’ve no idea who Kimbra is, but her high school music teacher has said, and this is the funny part, (quoting from the Herald article), “She’s the least Australian person I know. She’s not brash. She’s cultured, she’s sensitive, she’s very good at listening…”

It therefore follows, that – according to the music teacher anyway – Australians are brash, uncultured, insensitive and not very good at listening.

I have lived in both countries – New Zealand for 7 of my 37 years, Australia for 25 and the UK and Thailand for the rest. Have I noticed any difference between the two countries culturally? Are we Aussies really brash, uncultured, insensitive and not very good at listening?

I don’t think there’s a great deal of difference between the two cultures actually, other than that New Zealanders have a rather annoying accent. I have found New Zealanders to be a little more emotionally repressed and stoic, but this is all very anecdotal. Maybe this view of brashness is just the opposite of stiff and repressed. So okay, I’ll accept that I might be brash.

As for uncultured, there’s nothing wrong with that and I think it’s something to be proud of. Whose refined tastes determine whether someone is cultured anyway? I would have thought differences in taste are to be welcomed and celebrated. If we all liked the same things the world would be very boring. I’m very happy to be uncultured.

Insensitive? I have noticed that I seem to offend people in New Zealand more easily so perhaps I am insensitive. I like and appreciate straight-talking and I can’t stand false pleasantries that make a conversation pointless. What’s the point of talking if it’s all false? I’ll claim this quality also.

The last so-called Aussie trait is not good at listening. I’m not going to judge whether I’m good or not – that’s up to my friends and family to decide. I do however have lots of Australian friends who listen wholeheartedly to all my tirades and joys with animation and understanding.

So, in summary:

brash – yes; uncultured – yes and proud of it; insensitive – see uncultured; not good at listening – definitely wrong on that one.