State of the Nation is a new series in which we ask Kiwis who they'll vote for, how much they earn, and other nosey questions about their views and experience of Aotearoa. First up: A 20-something, inner-city Aucklander.
How old are you and where were you born? I'm 25. I was born in Malaysia,
What age were you when you came to New Zealand? I was four, about to turn five. My parents are both from Malaysia – they were immigrating.
Do you intend to live in New Zealand for the rest of your adult life? I'll probably say no. I’ve lived in Auckland for 20 years, but I've also had the privilege of going to many countries around the world, so I've gotten to see what life is like outside of this beautiful country. So for someone like me, who wants to keep growing and developing my career, going to other places around the world would provide more opportunities than sticking here for the rest of my life.
What industry do you work in? I studied finance, but I'm currently working in a business advisory company, so more so on the accounting/consulting side.
Does your job feel secure? There are opportunities in this particular industry as people retire. Of course, there is always the prospect that AI is going to come and take our jobs. But I think, you know, we're humans, and we would like to still connect with humans to some capacity and not just rely on chat bots and AI to do all our tasks.
A lot of people are moving to Australia, and that might be a possible pathway for me, maybe in the next couple of years.
Do you have friends who've moved to Australia? Oh yeah, I think I think it'd be hard to find someone who doesn't know someone who's moved over to Australia.
What’s your annual salary? My annual salary is a very modest, 50k, before tax. But there is room to grow. I just started this job not too long ago.
Do you drive a car? Yes, I do.
How much do you spend on petrol every week? Well, the good thing about my work is that it's right next to a train station. So, if I'm driving, it would just be on the weekends, to do grocery shopping or drive around with friends or whatever. I would spend maybe 50 bucks a month,
How much rent do you pay? It’s about $700 a week, split between three of us.
Do you imagine that if you stayed in New Zealand, you'd be able to buy a house in the next 10 years? I’m not the type of person who would immediately go into earning money, saving it, and then putting it towards a house. I would rather see myself as a nomad. Of course, that could change down the road but, if I was committed to buying a house here, I think it would be a very, very difficult journey, because you can't buy a house here from just one form of income, that’s almost impossible. And, if we’re talking about the 2030s, when competition is going to be even worse than it is now...
Have you decided how you'll vote in this year's general election? I'm deciding between two parties, but I can confidently say that my vote will not be on the left bloc this time round. I'm not a hardcore National voter, or Labour voter, I would consider myself a swing voter. I voted for Labour when Jacinda was in power [in 2020].
But, after Covid and the response to it and after Jacinda stepped down, I think this time I'll stick to the more conservative National/New Zealand First/ACT side of things. But that's not to say that I'll keep voting for them for years to come.
Do you think Christopher Luxon is doing a good job as Prime Minister? I can't, of course, agree with all of Luxon’s rationale, his decision making, and his party's policies. But I think out of the two, right now, between Hipkins and Luxon, I would still say Luxon would be my choice.
That’s partly because I didn't really like what Hipkins was doing when he was Education Minister and so, now that he's in basically the top job for Labour, I think he is probably the biggest obstacle to me choosing Labour.
What did you object to, with regard to his role in education?
They definitely had a lot of problems back when I was in high school. It was good that, when I was at intermediate, I got to be part of the pilot programme for bringing devices to school – that was very successful. But then, going into high school, it was quite difficult understanding, what are we really being taught? Sometimes the outlines didn't feel clear. I would always have to do my own self-learning or get my own tuition to be able to understand the material... Then more recently, [Education Minister] Erica Stanford announced that they want to overhaul the education system, which I think will be great for the next generation, to improve the literacy and the numerical things for our kids here in New Zealand.
What do you think are the three biggest issues facing Kiwis in this coming election? It would be: Can we afford the basic goods and things to get by? That's probably the most important thing, the cost of living.
Number two, I think it's to do with making our communities safer. Because people have a concept of New Zealand being one of the most beautiful countries but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the one of the safest. I live in the city centre, so it's quite common to encounter a lot of rough people, and the police only have so much power that they can [exercise] before they intervene. So I think it's improving those services, [while also] reaching out to people who definitely need it. And trying to get rid of the stigma associated with people who are not doing so well in these times.
The third point – it’s a lot – but I think it's infrastructure. Look at the CRL [Auckland’s City Rail Link], Wellington's water infrastructure problem, and then Christchurch also has their problems as well – It's kind of across the whole motu. A lot of costs just get very underestimated in the budgets.
Do you think that all New Zealand children should learn Te Reo Māori?
I think it would be a very cool opportunity for kids to have a bit more fluency in te reo, since it kind of feels fake when you are in a public environment, like on the bus or the train, or you're watching the news, and then they just say te reo, but you don't really understand what it means. It’s implied that you know what it means, but you don't actually know. So I think it's kind of just like putting it out there, without actually getting people to engage with the culture.
How do you feel about this Government’s controversial reviewing and amending of the Treaty of Waitangi? Well, I won't confidently say that I know, you know, all the nuances and all the details of what's actually being changed within the Treaty... I don't know the full picture of what's happening between the Government and Iwi, but I think it's important to honour the Treaty and keep the discussions going.
What do you think of this Government's approach to issues around climate change? I don’t think this Government is 100% investing in keeping New Zealand eco-friendly. Labour and the Greens would be more so, of course. But I think, that’s because National is so invested in New Zealanders' cost of living, bringing that down and making sure that we can still get the resources that we need to keep living our day-to-day lives. I do think [environmental issues are] the future, but... for me it’s not the pressing matter, even though it is important.
It would be sad to see New Zealand get tainted and tarnished because of poor [environmental] policies, but we have to remember that a lot of New Zealanders are economically doing it pretty tough right now.
But why should we pick a side? We should try and do both at the same time, so that our future generations can thank us for it.
What would you like to see more of in New Zealand? I’d like to see three things. First, better rail connections across New Zealand – North Island, South Island. Look at Japan, they've got the bullet trains, and it's just so easy to get from point A to point B. If Auckland was better connected to Tauranga, Wellington and other places, people would not have to stay in Auckland.
Second, I’d like Auckland’s city centre to feel more alive at night. After about 7pm, it’s very dead in the city – it’s just uni students and people going to the casino and what’s open is mostly fast food and more fast food. In places like Japan, China, Malaysia and Singapore, there are more options and public transport runs all the way past midnight.
Third, I’d like Kiwis to be less pessimistic. New Zealand is a beautiful, beautiful country and maybe the cities aren't the best places, but that doesn't mean the whole country sucks. That’s why a lot of people, Americans, Australians, Asians are still flocking here, while a lot of Kiwis have sort of given up. We take it for granted.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The views expressed are not those of TVNZ.
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