Quote Originally Posted by Ferg View Post
Rough shod indeed. He also rode rough shod over his own strawman argument. No one said it was "that alone", except himself.

But at least he admits the mineral wealth is "enormous" - but he fails to grasp none of the other stuff could have been done without that. This is assuming your quote is representative of his position. He also missed the thing that NZ has that Aussie doesn't - crippling legislation & student activist politicians when it comes to extracting said minerals.

Dann sounds like one of those people who thinks a country can tax its way to greater wealth. If the problem is low productivity and/or restrictive legislation then the solution is not 'more tax'.
Not more tax but maybe different tax, and exemptions, such that Australia has. Maybe that would help grow productivity too.

I think Australia/Australians has been the more realistic of the two neighbours. A wealthy population may mean environmental trade-offs. Defending its freedom and independence may mean accepting the weaponry of bigger like-minded allies.