Migrant Stories - "Why I think New Zealand is backward" Part II

Yesterday as part our Migrant Stories series we entered an account from a British person, who'd lived in New Zealand and returned to the UK, entitled "Why I think New Zealand is backward".

Her post was made on an emigration forum frequented mainly by British people and some New Zealanders. It drew a massive response, some of it hostile, overly defensive and insecure. Since then she has published a fuller explanation of why she thinks New Zealand is backward by answering questions (in italics) that were put to her by another person. This is her response, this is why so many migrants and their families do not settle in New Zealand. Read, learn and understand.

"In response I will try to explain and i apoligise to all those people who felt offended by my unwisely choice of words.

No choice in the supermarkets, if u want to home bake u r ok, want a convenience meal forget it! I personally find the 'convenience meal' mentality in the UK sad. Get a cook book! It is healthier to cook your own food for starters.

Hi most of our meals are cooked from scratch, but when u have got lots of things to attend to and the kids need to be here there and everywhere a convenience meal is just that a convenience. I made a birthday cake and went to buy some writing pens, to write happy birthday on the top, could i get any NO the woman in the supermarket looked at me as though I was strange and gladly handed me a piping bag!!!! I thought they were extinct

Education is appaling, my opinion of having 4 kids in the UK system then NZ Some posters will disagree with that according to previous posts I've read. I can't comment.

Being a Lecturer with kids in very good schools in the UK, I found the education system appalling. NCEA is supposed to be on par with our GCSE's and A Levels, in my opinion there is no comparison. When head teachers will not call in parents of disobedient children because their parents are a gang members and will not upset them, it beggered belief!!

No expectations for kids to leave school and go to University. Who's responsibility is it? the schools? government? why not the parents?
It is the parents and the schools responsibility to inspire kids to attain the best they can out of life.


The people are NOT intelligent and to get an intelligent conversation is near on impossible. Sounds like a massively unfair generalisation to me.
This was a bad choice of words, very sorry people. I longed for an academic conversation, a debate, to speak to a person who could have a stimulating conversation was very limiting, it could have been the area we were in.

Health and Safety is a joke. In what way? Roads, driving the mountain road every day to take kids to schools, no barrieres at all. Allowing kids to drive at 15. The fact that when there are health and safety rules in place no one takes any notice of them. Tokoro Mill has safety bars to stop people falling in once the drains are opened but these have to be removed because the suction truck hose does not fit through it, so they have to lift it and any person could fall into the pit and would die within minutes. Also the collection of chemicals, they take anything where are the ADR certificates.

Music is mostly american rap and NZ follow american culture. As do half the planet!
Spending lots of time with teenagers, the american music and influence I felt was more prominent in NZ at least in the Uk they promote many new British bands. Again something I suppose I didn't expect

Wages are do not match expectations, therefore lifestyle you have previously had is no where in sight. You should have known this before moving to NZ. No-one moves to NZ to get rich. There are millions of posts about that.
I knew my wages would be half what I was on in the UK, but actually having the experience of having to live on them was very difficult, when u live by certain standards.


The Kiwi's do not want progress especially in all the farms I visited. What do you mean? do they use oxen to plough the fields?
hahaha you make me laugh. I was teaching farmers and their labourers how to use a new hand held computer and they are quite happy to tell you that they do not want computers and that they want new zealand to stay as it was. I found this difficult to comprehend especially as in the Uk we embrace new technologies. Also while teaching Korean and Japanese students they were shocked how behind with technology NZ was. They came with their studies downloaded to MP3's.

NZ is not safer than the UK in our experience. I'm sure many on BE NZ will disagree with that.
I can understand why lots of people may not agree with this, but in our experience this was the case. My 15 year old daughter was sexually assaulted in NZ and the culprit got sent to prison for 2 years. As I said in the Uk we take our kids to and from schools by car, so we felt like lots of others that NZ was safer so let hr walk! The culprits attitude in court stated, "If she was my daughter I would not let her out of my sight"

Drugs are a big acceptable part of their culture. Drugs are everywhere! Most teens will dapple in or come across drugs. You should educate them to be responsible
Of course every responsible parent in any country teaches their kids about drugs and their dangers, but we were not ready for the ACCEPTABLE part, that it is Ok to smoke dope in front of kids and teach them it is OK. I am sorry it in NOT OK to me or my family, hence the move away. it is endemic in NZ just another part of their culture.

The biggest suicide rate in teenagers is in NZ as the pressure on kids to go out and work to bring in money for the family, is a bigger pressure than getting a good education in the UK. It is all relative.
Agreed, different cultures expect different things from their children. But don't forget also that it is still Ok to beat your kids to a pulp in NZ and it happens as I have done lots of research and it is not a frowned upon, again it is accepted. These are things that are not anticipated when moving to a new culture until you experience them

College courses are few and far between. Such as? While doing some research a while back I came across Unis in Auckland and Christchurch, and I didn't have to look very hard.
Choices of what you can study is still very limiting. Teaching in a UK college with 350,000 students, to a few hundred students at the local college in NZ, again this is due to population so if your kids choose a course , it is quite likely that it is going to be a long way from home in NZ to enable them to persue a career. Universities have a better choice, but a UK degree is better recognised that many other countries degrees.

Being so far away from other countries, it has been left behind. I understand that this could be an issue for some, but for me this is what is appealing about NZ

Again perspective. I have never said NZ was bad, it is a matter of perspective. Again the reality did not hit me until I lived in NZ and could not jump on a plane and visit another country so easily. It is appealing if u want seclusion and a quiet peaceful life, I agree.


The fact that there is no structure to society is very hard to work with, especially as the UK is so structured. Please explain what you mean by this.
Stucture, rules and regulation are not adhered to. Drink Driving- I was at a petrol station and a man in the next car drove up, drunk so much he couldn't stand and had a child in the car about 2years old. The police turn a blind eye to drink driving, driving without seat belts. They do you for speeding though as it gains them money, like other countries. it is hard to explain that there is no infastructure maybe someone on her can explain better. Where you are brought up with rules and regulations, trying to live the the sloppiness of it all is difficult.


Lots of Adults in NZ believe in being in gangs, which their kids follow. This sounds like utter bollocks to me. Lots of adults all over NZ want to be in gangs? nonsense
So there are NO MONGREL MOB AND BLACK POWER GANGS????? Get out of here LOL. These Gangs are known by the police, but even the police will not deal with them. They pick up the young wannabe members cos it is easier! So there was No shooting in broad daylight of a Mongrel Mob member in Rotorua in 2006 and the shooting of a Black Powers daughter (2 year old) in 2007? I just dreampt this did I. read the papers. These gangs do rule parts of Rotorua. Most doctors and Counsellors were also shocked by the amount of gang culture in Rotoura.

I have tried to explain from my point of view, how I felt in New Zealand. I know there will always be people who are opposed to what I say. But please remember, if i do not answer straight away I am many miles from you now. New Zealand was a lovely place to visit but I did not feel I could stay."

For many migrants one of their prime motivators for moving to New Zealand is to provide a better life for their children. Sadly, for some people, New Zealand fails to deliver.

In the New Zealand News this day:
*The funeral of taxi driver Hiren Mohini who was stabbed in a frenzied assault on Sunday morning link
*British girl and her mum commended for fighting off sex attacker in North Shore link
*Police appeal for help in catching gunman in yesterday's bank robbery in Napier link 
*Desert Road murderer gets 16 years jail term link
*3 Cheetahs escape from Christchurch park link
*3 shots fired at bus carrying children in Christchurch link
*BMX star sentenced for sex attacks on two 14 year olds in Rangiora schoolyard link
*Hastings police pursuit ends in crash link
*Black Power gang member, 17, raped 10 year old link
*Train driver ran stop light link 
*Home detention for woman who supplied P to ex-husband link
*Drunk-driver's sentence disgusts widow link
*Negotiators talk man down from crane in Auckland link 
*Shoplifter wielded knife, threatens public in Christchurch mall link
*Central city pick-ups lead to sex attacks in Hamilton link
*North Shore primary school teacher on sex charges link
*Man avoids jail for vicious assault link
*School head teachers opposite national standards in education scheme link
*No jail for $15,000 robbery link
*Unemployment raises to 10 year high link


Please click on any of the topics in the Labels List below the comments section of this page to read other posts relating to the issues this woman has raised.

Today's posts - click here