New Zealand’s dairy products are renowned worldwide, but the country is probably best known for its mighty All Blacks rugby team, winner of the World Cup in 1987, 2011 and 2015. New Zealand is the only country to have won the Rugby World Cup three times. 

Given that both Australia and New Zealand have enjoyed enormous successes in their own right and appear (at least on paper) to be very similar culturally, one is driven to wonder why New Zealand might appear ‘in awe’ of Australia and why trans‐Tasman rivalry is so fierce, rather than just friendly. New Zealanders may worry about being Australianised and losing their national identity, and they also express concern that Australia takes advantage when they begin business operations across the Tasman. In an article titled ‘Kicked By the Same Kangaroo? Metaphor’s Effects in Tragic Tales of Acquisition’, Liu and Riad discuss three cases in which New Zealand companies have acquired Australian ones. These are The Warehouse’s acquisitions of Silly Solly’s and Clint’s Crazy Bargains, New Zealand Telecom’s takeover of Australian Associated Press Telecommunications (AAPT), and Air New Zealand’s purchase of the failed Ansett Airlines.

The Warehouse is the biggest retailer in New Zealand, and Liu and Riad believe that it is also the most popular one. However, the company failed to repeat its New Zealand success in Australia, and eventually sold its acquired companies. Telecom wrote off billions of the value of AAPT’s network and, eventually, closed it down — integrating with PowerTel with the aim of continuing operations in Australia’s telecommunications market.83 AAPT was subsequently purchased by iiNet for AU$60 million, and later also acquired Intermode for AU$105 million.

Air New Zealand took a well‐documented hammering when it placed its wholly owned subsidiary, Ansett Airlines, in voluntary administration. To rescue Air New Zealand from collapse, the government took an 83 per cent holding by injecting more than $850 million to keep it flying. So, as a result of the perceived ‘Australianisation’ of New Zealand by Australian businesses and expatriate personnel who take up senior positions in New Zealand firms, and the belief that Australian companies are taking New Zealand firms that invest there to the cleaners, the rivalry is sometimes not quite so friendly anymore.

At the same time, Australia appears in awe of the United States, a reasonably similar Englishspeaking country with a much bigger population. Many North Americans have been appointed as CEOs of Australian blue‐chip listed companies — such as Paul Anderson at BHP, Bob Joss at Westpac; Sol Trujillo at Telstra and Don Voelte at Woodside. Similarly, it is common for North American academics to be appointed to senior academic positions at Australian universities. International appointments to senior local positions can potentially be seen as casting aspersions on the efficacy of homegrown talent.

QUESTION

What would you suggest to New Zealanders and Australians to help them get over their cultural rivalry?

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New Zealand is probably best known for its rugby team.