Senator Ian MacDonald and ANZAC

Queensland Senator Ian MacDonald has been quoted as saying.

"If Kiwis want a better deal on controversial deportation laws and access to social welfare, New Zealand should become Australia's seventh and eighth states."
Senator Ian Macdonald also disputed the need for an easier path to Australian citizenship for Kiwis, saying he believed it was "not a terribly onerous thing to do".

I have sent him the following email. Information inside brackets was not included.

'I was born in Australia in 1944 and lived and worked all my life there until in 2010, at age almost 66, I migrated to live in New Zealand. 

I was given the age superannuation backdated to the day I arrived.  Centrelink pays my (Australian) age pension to the NZ government but, due to the assets test, it is just over half the amount I receive from the New Zealand Government. (Everyone who is 65 and over receives the full age pension in NZ but it is taxed, Australian age pensions depend on involved assets and income tests requiring me to send regular information about major expenditure).  I also received a Gold card within a few weeks giving me all senior transport concessions. I was able to register at a pharmacy and medical centre immediately to receive the same benefits as if I was a NZ citizen. After 2 years I can have the same access to hospital care for non urgent surgery. (Urgent surgery was available immediatey as for Kiwis in Australia)

I was asked to register within a month and, after a year, I received full voting rights. (This was as a resident, you must be a citizen in order to vote in Australia).  As I have left Australia permanently, I have lost my voting rights there. This would not happen to a US citizen nor to a NZ citizen as long as they returned for a visit every 3 years.  I return to Australia at least twice per year to visit family.

For the first 4 years I was not required to pay tax on my Australian income  - shares and term deposits and  I have received a ruling that I need not pay tax on my Australian private superannuation fund.

In September this year I applied for citizenship. I now fullfill the 5 year residency requirements and, after a check there was no criminal record, I received a letter granting me citizenship 10 days ago.  I will probably swear my allegiance at a ceremony at the beginning of February and then apply for a NZ passport.  I am unsure as to whether I will renew my Australian passport as I would only use it to enter and leave Australia. The NZ passport is more highly regarded around the world.

I now have many friends whose children have migrated to Australia. One tells me his son has lived in Queensland for nearly 20 years, his children were born there but he cannot get citizenship as his job as a postman is not one Australia values. (I have never worked for a wage in NZ)

So almost daily I am embarrassed at the completely opposite reception I have received here in New Zealand compared with that for those who have gone the other way. The ANZAC tradition is not just words over here. This includes an article in our local paper today referring to an interview you gave saying "NZ could join us”.  I am sure my friends will be insulted as am I, having just become a proud Kiwi.  As I tell people, Australia is my country of birth but New Zealand is my country of choice.

Blue Mountains

Between Easter and Anzac Day my sister drove me up to the Blue Mountains where I lived for 28 years. We stayed 2 nights in Katoomba. Although all the places were well known to me, a few I had not visited for quite a few years before I left just over 4 years ago.

Of course the Three Sisters are the most well known view seen from Echo Point.

Mount Solitary. I have hiked out to there but quite a long time ago now.

I had to walk down at least part of the Giant Staircase to the Honeymoon Bridge. Being school holidays the crowds were offputting. Many times I have continued way further down another 1,000 feet to the bottom but not today.

The sandstone weathering is dramatic and some trees put up a struggle to survive.

Driving west past Narrow Neck. Often in winter school holidays  I would drive up here, buy lunch and eat it along the clifff looking over this view.

I have always preferred the view from Govetts Leap near the town of Blackheath.

And the Govetts Leap Falls

and the picnic area

Then to Mount York where the first explorers, Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson discovered they had found the way across the Mountains.

Finally to Wentworth Falls, the view, the falls and the lake.

Shame on Australia, the unfair country

I have copied this from the Sydney Morning Herald
The bold is mine

Australians and New Zealanders have fought alongside one another in world wars, can move without restriction under our trans-Tasman travel arrangement and share a mutually beneficial free-trade agreement. Yet when it comes to our expatriates, Australia has been accused of treating Kiwis like second-class citizens.
And while incoming prime minister, Tony Abbott, was only elected a week ago, New Zealanders hope the fact his wife, Margie, is a Kiwi will help influence change.
Under travel arrangements reached in the 1970s, expats can live and work in either country indefinitely. But legislative changes introduced by the Howard government 12 years ago - as well as amendments to several other laws thereafter - mean that although Kiwis can permanently reside and seek employment in Australia on special category visas, they are not entitled to permanent residency. Nor do they get automatic rights to citizenship.
In contrast, Australians are granted residency on arrival in New Zealand, can vote after living there for a year and become eligible for citizenship after five years. They are also entitled to welfare benefits after two years.

''Basically, any [New Zealander] who arrived here after February 26, 2001, or who had been living here and, for whatever reason, was living overseas the year the law was changed, is affected,'' said Tim Gassin, the spokesman for Oz Kiwi, a group campaigning for equality for the estimated 300,000 unprotected Kiwis affected.
Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe is among them. Despite moving here in 1968, Crowe was working overseas filming Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind when the Family and Community Services Legislation Amendment (New Zealand citizens) Act 2001 was brought in.
He planned to get naturalised in 2006 only discover he was ineligible - despite living here for 37 of his 49 years.
Crowe has described the immigration loophole as ''arbitrary and ridiculous'', noting that, while he could not become a citizen, he had featured on an Australian Legends stamp and was awarded a Centenary of Federation medallion.
''There's a whole bunch of New Zealanders who have committed to a life here, who have had children here, who bought their first houses here, who have been productive, taxpaying members of society … Until recently, I had an Australian wife. I have two Australian children. But I still fall between the cracks,'' Crowe said.
Mr Gassin's Kiwi fiancee Grace Edwards has even taught Australian history at Melbourne University where they met in 2007 and are both doing their PhDs.
''Essentially, the way the system now operates in Australia, despite all the history between our two countries, New Zealanders are treated the same as anyone sitting in the desert in Namibia who wants to come here and get citizenship,'' he said.
''They have to go through the same skills tests, security checks and health checks for things like contagious diseases, which is a bit stupid when they've already been living and working here - some of them - for 10 years.''
He said Kiwis had the highest workforce participation rate in Australia and it was ironic that many residency and citizenship applications had been rejected by the Australian government on the basis their skills were not in demand.
''But a lot of occupations are not in demand here because there are so many Kiwis filling the gaps,'' he said.
Without citizenship, Kiwis cannot vote or access any form of social or disability welfare - even though they contribute an estimated $5 billion in income tax annually. Furthermore, children born here to New Zealand citizens are no longer considered Australian. Such children only qualify for citizenship after they have lived here for 10 years, meaning those born with disabilities are not eligible for any government assistance.
The productivity commissions of Australia and New Zealand completed a joint report last year on the trans-Tasman relationship and found Australia's treatment of Kiwis was unreasonable, unjustified and required change.

Actually I think there are some inaccuracies. I received the NZ aged pension backdated to the day I arrived.  My Australian Aged pension is paid to the NZ Government but as it is means tested it is less than what I receive from NZ.

I was able to vote in the first elections after I arrived, the local elections were held about 9 months after my arrival and I received voting papers.

Unlike an American citizen, as an expatriate, I have lost the right to vote in Australia, so my views are of no interest to politicians. 

 

In fact, if I did not have relatives and friends in Australia, I would have no interest in ever returning to that country again.

Across Australia 7 Derby and Kimberley Gorges

We based ourselves in Derby for 3 nights and took another trip on a 4WD bus. It was along the first section of the Gibb River Road which takes a more scenic route 700 km back to the town of Wyndham. However this is the description.
The Derby Visitor Centre recommends use of high clearance robust vehicles, preferably 4WD, for DRY season (May to October) travel. Towing of any type is not recommended. However, well constructed off road trailers may survive the often corrugated conditions in the DRY. Caravans are definitely NOT recommended.
Wet season (November to April) travel can be severely restricted by flooding and road closures as the countryside can become very waterlogged. Access to the gorges is very often not possible and, if travel occurs, is restricted to the Gibb River Road itself and not to the sidetracks into the gorges. A 4WD vehicle equipped with a snorkel is essential once the rains have started.

Certainly not allowed in the rented motor home.

First we stopped at a very old boab tree and were told all about them.

 It is a deciduous tree that grows from 29 to 39 feet tall, and has been known to grow to 16 feet in width. In the spring, it grows large, white flowers. The boab doesn't develop annual growth rings, and stores water inside its trunk. Some are 1500 years old, so are the oldest living things in Australia.
Aboriginal Australian peoples used the hollows of the boab to collect water, the leaves for medicine, and the fruit for food and in art. We were given some fruit to taste. I am afraid I spat it out, uggh.

We went on to Windjana Gorge which was very spectacular and saw more freshwater crocodiles. These were smaller so we went within a few feet of them .
We were told the story of Jandamarra who led an armed rebellion against the whites in the late 1890's and hid in the caves in this area.

After lunch we went to Tunnel Creek Cave where Jandamarra was killed. This involved wading through the stream which can be above your waist but thankfully was only up to my lower thighs. I had to buy a pair of shorts in Derby in preparation. I never wear shorts.

The following day back in Derby we checked out the very high tides at the wharf.

Derby has Australia’s highest tides and one of the highest in the world.

We went to the Mowanjum Art and Cultural Centre.  Finally yet another sunset across the tidal flats.

Across Australia 6 Bungle Bungles to Derby

We continued across the North West, generally called the Kimberleys.

The small town of Halls Creek (pop.1200, 70% indigenous) is the only town for 600km. We just stopped for petrol and continued on to Fitzroy Crossing, altogether driving 470km that day. Fitzroy Crossing is a bit bigger with 1,500 people in the town (60% indigenous) and another 2,000 in nearby aboriginal communities.  It, however, has a very nice camping ground so we spent the afternoon relaxing and stayed the night.

The next morning we went to the nearby Geike Gorge for a boat cruise.

Yet more freshies

A shy kangaroo.

and bird

Then we drove the 300 km to the town of Derby on the coast. It seemed quite big with over 3,000 people.  Derby is known for the Boab trees and this one is the most famous.  It is known as the prison tree. I use to think Aboriginal prisoners were kept inside but they were just chained to it.

Across Australia 4 Katherine to Lake Argyle

After 2 nights at Kakadu National Park, we began generally heading in a south west direction.  We drove 265 km to Katherine where I had spent a few hours on the train trip north.  On the way we stopped in Pine Creek where there was a museum in the old station. The new line bypasses the town.

We were in Katherine (population 10,000) for lunch and then restocked our van.  I find the town depressing as there is a very large Aboriginal population, many sitting on the pavements especially outside the government welfare agency, and I had to get out of the way of one woman, obviously off her brain with alcohol.  In the Northern Territory your driving licence is scanned before you can buy alcohol in bottle shops.   One man told me the Aborigines call the welfare payment "sit down money" but then another said why shouldn't they sit in the shopping centre just as much as in the parks.  While some work in national parks, they do not like being guides, very few are seen working in stores. I do not know what the answer is.
We went to the Katherine Gorge but both of us had been there before, even if 30 years ago, so just took a walk around rather than a boat trip.  I climbed to one lookout and took some photos.

Then we headed west to the Victoria River 190km.  There is no town there, just a Roadhouse with camping ground.  There are no allocated sites so, having found a flat space under a tree, we decided to stay there for a lazy afternoon rather than drive a few km north for a walk up the escarpment.  I was glad I left this till the following morning as it would have been a very hot climb.  You cannot take a dip in the river unless you want to be a meal for a saltwater crocodile however the escarpments around were very spectacular especially as the sun struck them at dawn.
The next morning  I took the 3km return Escarpment walk which was quite steep and rocky in places.

My sister did about half of it. Here is the view of the river from the top

Then we drove a further 319 km to our next night stop. There was only one "town" on the way. (pop 230).  This and the Victoria River Roadhouse are the only settlements in the 519 km between Katherine and Kununurra.  We bought petrol there and fortunately saw the sign that it was cheaper at the supermarket than the hotel (20 cents per litre cheaper). No service, you put your credit card in a machine which was heavily barred and prepaid the amount required.
We did however drive up to a scenic lookout over the town and found a memorial to the Nackeroos.  In formal army language they were the North Australia Observation Unit, a rough and tumble, bush-hardened bunch of soldiers who patrolled the north of Australia during WWII.  They were also know as Curtin's Cowboys.  Curtin was Australia's wartime prime minister.

I loved this plaque as it states well my feelings about this area of Australia.

Somewhere in Australia, where the sun is a curse,
And each day is followed by another slightly
worse;
And the brick red dust blows thicker, than the
shifting desert sand;
And the men dream, and wish for, a fairer, greener
land.

Somewhere in Australia, where the mail is always late,
And a Christmas card in April, is considered up to
date;
Where we never have a payday, and we never pay the rent
But we never miss the money, cause we never get
it spent.

Somewhere in Australia, where the ants and lizards
play;
And a hundred fresh mosquitoes reinforce the ones
you slay,
So take me back to good old Sydney where I can hear the tramway bell.
For this god-forsaken place is just a substitute for hell!

Just after lunch we crossed the border into Western Australia and turned south for Lake Argyle.

Lake Argyle is Australia's largest artificial lake by volume.  It normally has a surface area of about 1,000 square kilometres and the dam was built in 1971.  The irrigation scheme has been controversial as there were many problems with tropical diseases and the native birds fed well on the rice crops.  However more successful crops have been found recently and the irrigation area is being extended.
The next morning we visited the old homestead, which has been moved from its original site now well underwater and also a went to a lookout then in the afternoon we took a sunset cruise seeing freshwater crocodiles. These are harmless to humans but I would not like to meet one in the water.

Across Australia No 3 Litchfield and Kakadu

It is hard to choose which photos to post. My Sister and I picked up the van which was to be our home for the next 20 days. They gave us an upgrade. The main advantages were a TV which only worked in a few places and a BBQ which was much used.

We headed 100 km south of Darwin to Adelaide River which is now only a very small settlement but was a big army and airforce base in the 2nd World War after Darwin was bombed in 1942. We visited the war cemetery.

Then we went to Litchfield National Park for 2 nights and spent a day driving 200 km through the park first seeing Magnetic Termite mounds which in the natural environment take the place of native grazing animals in these savannah grasslands.So instead of the vast herd of antelope, zebra etc as in Africa you get miles and miles of these.

We took walks  to 3 different waterfalls. First the Florence Falls,

Where I climbed down lots of steps to the bottom and walked along a delightful cool stream.

My sister joined me for a walk a few kilometres over the plateau to the Tolmer Falls.

And finally the most popular, the Wangi Falls where we had lunch, took a walk through the rainforest but decided not to continue in the heat right around to the top of the falls but returned and bought a cool drink.

They must be very impressive in the wet season. I also visited a deserted tin mine.

Then we headed east to Kakadu National Park.
Covering nearly 20,000 square kilometres of exceptional natural beauty and unique biodiversity, Kakadu is one of very few places World Heritage listed for both its cultural and its natural values. Kakadu National Park is managed jointly by its Aboriginal traditional owners and the Director of National Parks.
We stayed at Yellow Water and were on a bus at 6.15am for a short drive to the jetty where we boarded small boats for a sunrise tour of the lagoons.

I could post lots of bird photos but as I did not take notes, many names are forgotten.

The other lagoon inhabitants are less pleasant. we did not trail arms and legs over the side. My photo shows a female "salty" bearing her throat to the large male to indicate she does not want to be dinner but is available for other pleasures. 

 He did not want either so she sulkily came over to check us out.