What are the cultural and political differences between Australia and New Zealand?

Question

What are the cultural and political differences between Australia and New Zealand?

Answer 1

Politically, the differences arent huge.Although, both countires for quite a long time held different views on the situation on Iraq. Australia seems to try and keep a very close bond with america and britain, which lead them to join in the war in iraq, however NZ tries to stay more independant and doesnt mind disagreeing with larger countries on big issues (eg.nuclear power).

Having lived in both countries, its pretty safe to say theres no  huge differences between them. I find kiwis are more laid back, perhaps because there's simply less of them in the country. Get into the rural areas of australia and you find people are pretty laid back too! Culturally, there are some obvious differences. New Zealand has the native Maori culture, which is quite embraced (eg. Maori is a national language). Australia's natives are the Aboriginals, and after the PM's apology to the Aboriginals for past mistreatments, its clear there is also an embracement of this different culture. However, there is still a while to go in relations between the non-aboriginal people and the aboriginals.

New Zealanders have different accents to Australians (though there is much dispute as to which is "better"!), and some common words are different (eg bathers=togs, jandles=thongs etc). I guess to someone not too familiar with the difference in sounds, the Australians have more of a "twangy" accent.

:)

Answer 2

Not a huge difference really, especially to an outsider.

Politically, economically and culturally Australia is very much within the American sphere of influence with tight integration at all levels. Australia has a mutual defence treaty with the USA (the ANZUS alliance), and close military and intelligence co-operation. Australia has a free trade agreement with the United States, adjusts its laws to comply with American laws and American culture is extreemly prevelent (in clothing, film and television, music, etc...).

New Zealand has developed an independent pro-European culture, and has withdrawn from the ANZUS military alliance, effectively banning American warships from its territorial waters and limiting other co-operation with the USA - e.g. it has not participated in the war of terror or the attack against Iraq.

The difference in received accent is usually only distinguishable to locals, i.e. Australians and New Zealanders can tell the difference, but visitors from other countries will have a difficult time telling the two apart.

The indiginous cultures of the two countries are however completely different. New Zealand's Maoris are part of the Polynesian ethno-linguistic group, whereas Australia's Aboriginees do not share a common main language (there are something like 600 distinct languages - many now extinct - with additional dialects) and are ethnically only related to the Torres Strait islanders.

New Zealand's Maoris enjoy greater integration into mainstream society, with Australia's Aboriginees still facing major challenges in all areas. The life expectancy at birth for Aboriginees is only 50 years, compared to 80 for non-indigineous Australians.

Answer 3

NZ has culture and politics where Australia has Dame Edna and corruption, simple!