People are leaving New Zealand in record numbers as unemployment rises, interest rates remain high and economic growth is anaemic, government statistics show.
Data released by Statistics New Zealand on Tuesday showed that 131,200 people departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2024, provisionally the highest on record for an annual period. Around a third of these were headed to Australia.
While net migration, the number of those arriving minus those leaving, remains at high levels, economists also expect this to wane as the number of foreign nationals wanting to move to New Zealand falls due to the softer economy.
The data showed of those departing 80,174 were citizens, which was almost double the numbers seen leaving prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was so weird as an American to find out that country music is huge in Australia.
It reminds me of how Mexican music was (and maybe still is) really popular in the Balkans because they were so closed off from most of the world when they were united as Yugoslavia.
Why do you find it surprising that we like country music in Australia?
Because it’s a very American form of music. In fact, a lot of it involves a bunch of jingoistic patriotic bullshit.
Some does. A lot does even, but not the best country music, not by a long shot.
“Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore”
Edit:
Figured I should share some tunes:
Cruel world - Willie Nelson for rdr2
Angel from Montgomery - John Prine, cover by Daniel Donato is also excellent
Boombox, hogkill blues, 1922 blues - all by Charlie Parr, all excellent. Hogkill blues is abt a strike in which union workers were killed by counter-strikers.
Prison Trilogy - Joan Baez - makes reference to the term wetback to refer to an immigrant (“his back was wet, but he thought he could get, some things to start a life”) but is otherwise an excellent song abt the fucked up American prison system
Lots of love, hope you enjoy at least one of these!!
You should look into Australian country music, it’s different from American. American country music is still popular here but we’ve had a rich history of country music that is our own unique style.
Can I also recommend Australian folk? Astral Yeehaw - Working, Drunk or Hungover
Absolutely you can, good recommendation.
Astral Yeehaw, what a fucking band name, that’s legendary
Australians consume a lot of American content, but not necessarily content about America.
I get that. It just seemed to me, at least before I found that out, that it was a uniquely American form of music.
Like imagine if you were from Mongolia, and someone was like, “throat-singing? We love that shit in Paraguay!” You’d probably think like I did about country music.
I guess so.
I think you can safely assume that most American culture is imported into Australia, the good and the bad.
Some ass-hats are trying to ban books about non-binary sexuality from our library. I had thought that was uniquely American.
I’m really sorry to hear that.
Yeah, it’s not the fault of America. Just cunts being cunts. If it wasn’t the book burning they would’ve found something else.