Monday 29 September 2008

EXPAT TAKE ON NZ - Letter from Tokyo

An email from a Tokyo reader shows that expats still keep an eye on home. There have been a few expats who have written to Roarprawn commenting on what is happening to NZ and all are worried.

Letter from Tokyo

I always see NZ as home but can see no compelling reason to return (I still have recurring nightmares of sheep breaking out of electric fences onto fresh swedes so I have issues, I admit). I definitely won't be coming back if Labour get back in for another three years and after that it may not be worth coming back at all.

I was out and about in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago and bumped into a fellow NZ'er and we ended up swilling a few beers and swapping tales and I posed the hypothetical scenario to him - Imagine what NZ would be like, if all the kiwis who had left over the last 20 years had never done so.

I reckoned there would be upwards of a million, motivated and skilled people (including their kids, who are first generation nationals of another country now) who would otherwise be the engine room of our society, who have buggered off in similar fashion to myself. Look at the number of first generation Kiwi/Australians who are starting to play for the Wallabies now.

I reckon it's a tragedy and somehow we need a vision to bring those people home. I don't want to bash immigration because it's important too but with the family and friend networks expats have as opposed to immigrants you would see New Zealand really rock.



Yip he is right... We could rock - we just need some inspirational leadership.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have thought that for some time. We have a country that needs to be put squarely back on the rails. I don't think that 4 more years of Labour will do that. If we are blessed with that outcome it won't be long before me and my family join the masses departing NZ