NZ Press-ganged In The Australian

Greg Sheridan, using some sobering cliches, gives his views on the trans-Tasman relationship: as well as comparing NZ to Tasmania he invokes ghosts of ANZUS past and our “unreliable” unwillingness to join Australia in Pax-Americana, as reasons why NZ won’t be part of a joint free-trade deal. “NZ is a place of infirmity and irrelevance […] the Howard Government is well advised to keep its distance from the eccentric Kiwis.” Read one way it’s a decent snapshot of how some Aussies see us through the corkscrews; read another, it’s a strong provocation and affirmation of the edge metaphor.