O’Connor was implying, presumably, that for one of his constituents to discuss an issue that affected her and many others with her elected representative was tantamount to asking for unreasonable personal favours. Upon raising concerns with her local Labour MP, Greg O’Connor, he reportedly told her “This is not Sri Lanka,” saying there was nothing he could do. On 12 May, Businessdesk’s Dileepa Foneska reported that Githara Gunawardena, a New Zealand permanent resident, was concerned that she wasn’t able to take out a student loan. On May 16, responding to an article about the Loafers Lodge fire, NZ Herald columnist Fran O’Sullivan wrote on Twitter “Prefer not to be third world.”Įven when the term “third world” isn’t used, the sentiment is present. David Seymour doesn’t miss opportunities to compare New Zealand with the so-called “third world” Then he did it again on May 22, saying on Newshub that crime rates in New Zealand indicated that New Zealand was becoming a “third world country”. On May 15 David Seymour told One News that New Zealand was “sliding” from a “first world country” to “a kind of big Fiji”. We heard from experts that the situation is perilous – the time to act is now.” The sentiment “we need to take action about a harmful problem” is just as powerful without any mention of the “third world”. The May 12 report into the problem of forestry slash on the East Coast, for instance, declared in its introduction: “We are not a third world country. In the media, all the time, I see politicians and commentators and the public playing the comparisons game, only at a much bigger scale: the comparison of New Zealand to the “third world”. I’m hardly alone in the perverse enjoyment of comparisons. Confronted with a sudden expense, I remind myself that the reason I don’t have much money is that I keep going on holiday – unlike someone I know who never leaves the city limits. Miserable with a dreadful flatmate, I remember my friend whose flatmate took to stealing things and never paid their rent. Cycling, breathless and sweaty, to an event, I pat myself on the back for not having to find parking like the poor suckers in cars. It’s pretty self explanatory, really: I think of something that could be worse than my current situation and feel relieved that, bad as things may be, at least I don’t have to be like those people. When I’m feeling sorry for myself, for one reason or another, I like to play the comparisons game. It’s a tired, meaningless trope that says nothing about the actual problems here, writes Shanti Mathias. Hardly a day goes by without someone comparing New Zealand to the ‘third world’, and being quoted in the media for their trouble.
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