We have been in Queenstown this week, partially due to me not feeling well so our adventures were pretty minimal, however I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss NZ social aspects including racism, drugs and alcohol, and health care.
Racism
I am going to start with the racism which has a completely different flavor here than it does in the states. I feel that in the states, racism is more hidden now. People are not as free with racial slurs and overall try to hide their personal views from the rest of society. I don't think it works that way here. The racism is directed at Maori, Pacific Islanders, and other Asian people. I first noticed it by the way that people are talking about the Maori.
It is very common to refer to laziness, obesity, and alcoholism of the Maori. There are also some bad feelings about the whole land lease thing that I discussed in one of the earlier blogs, and sometimes even outrage at the fact that Maori will charge a fee for the use of their land. I was wondering how true the stereotypes are so I looked it up:It looks like NZ has the second highest obesity rate in the Anglo sphere (US leads the pack) but obesity is a lot more prevalent with the Maori population. I have a theory that this is directly related to how expensive the food is here. Fruit and vegetables are waaaaay more expensive here, while junk food is almost the same price as it is in the US. Basically, what that means is if you are poor here, your chances of being obese skyrocket. I compared minority stats between US and NZ blows them out of the water, it's just that white kiwis have such a low rate of obesity that US overall has a higher percentage. I found an article that stated "In a 2010 study, almost half of low-income households regularly ran out of food through lack of money."
In terms of alcoholism, I looked through several articles and found that Maori and non-Maori average daily alcohol consumption was equal, however Maori showed a different pattern, more Maori do not drink, and the ones that do drink, don't drink as often as non-Maori kiwis, but when they drink, they binge drink more often. I found that Europeans introduced the Maori to alcohol, and at that time the tribes petitioned the Europeans to not sell alcohol to the Maori people. the government complied, and up until the mid 20th century sanctions were in place to prevent the sale of alcohol to the Maori people. After WWII the bans were lifted and Maori drinking came to be more accepted.
In terms of "lazy", the racism here is so high that not everyone employs Maori. I stumbled on the following survey online. Look at the choices presented to the people to vote on. Are you kidding me???? Look at the racist comments below the survey. I can't believe that people here are so ridiculous. The more I looked into this the angrier I got. It's just so overt here. Maybe, just maybe more Maori are unemployed because people wont hire them... because they are racists.
Drugs and Alcohol:
It looks like NZ is fighting alcoholism. There is a new law that came into effect since we have been here that
Compare that to the fact that synthetic marijuana is legal here. After doing a little research, (with a nudge in the right direction by friends) I found that synthetic marijuana, unlike the real kind, has been reported to be highly addictive, and causing psychosis. I don't understand why alcohol is so highly monitored, marijuana is illegal, but a drug that can give you seizures, cause permanent psychosis, and is highly addictive is perfectly OK.
Health Care:
Finally I'm going to say some good things :). A couple of days ago I tried mountain biking and ended up twisting my ankle. As I plan to be pretty active for the next year, I thought I would have it checked out by a doctor. The good news: in NZ all accidents are covered by ACC - Accident Compensation Corporation. It doesn't matter if you are a citizen, a resident, or a visitor; if you have been in an accident, you are covered. Armed with only this knowledge we went to the Queenstown Medial Centre and were told that a doctor visit would cost $168 dollars because they are a private and it's the weekend. On a weekday it would have cost us $118 to be seen. I asked about the free accident coverage and was told that I should go to the hospital for the free care. Done!
Twenty minutes later we walked into the hospital. There we found out that if we were citizens, we would pay only 20 dollars for the visit at the private clinic, but since we are not, they wanted to charge us more. We spoke to the receptionist a little bit. Officially the hospital can't turn us away, but since my issue was not an
We thought that the wait would be long, so Mike went for a jog while I got comfortable and started reading my book. They did see two people ahead of me, a guy with potentially broken ribs and a girl with a gash on her head that was bleeding all over the room, but I didn't mind. I was still seen by a nurse, got an x-ray of my foot, spoke to a doctor, and was was walking out when Mike came back from his jog. No one asked for my height, no one weighed me, no one took my temperature or blood pressure. They talked to me, asked me questions and believed me. When I went for an x-ray, they asked if I was pregnant and I said no. They did not feel the need to also give me a pregnancy test. There was no bureaucracy, there was just a conversation between adults where the medical professional believes they patient and is not afraid that the patient will sue them. The reason for this, is once you use ACC you revoke your right to sue. That includes accidents that are the cause of malpractice. People are left just doing their job. I was not asked for any payment information, I wasn't even asked for an ID to prove that I was who I said I was. I filled out a form that would allow me to get more care for the same issue at a later date if that was needed. My discharge instructions did not have all of the information about me that I already know, like my name, address, weight, etc. It was just all very simple. As a patient, who was scared of what the sprained ankle would mean to me, I was made to feel at ease and I think that's really my favorite part. If other people don't seem up an arms, prodding and poking me, then I too will be more relaxed.
Fun part of the form: ethnicity! Here were my choices:
- NZ European
- Maori
- Samoan
- Cook Island Maori
- Tongan
- Niuean
- Chinese
- Indian
- non-NZ European
- Other
I was going to put "other" because I'm American, not European, but the receptionist said that I was non-NZ European. I will guess that European means caucasian here. Notice any differences between this and the ethnicity forms that we fill out in the states? Notice anyone missing? Talk among yourselves :)
When I got back to camp, I of course did more research and the ACC system is pretty interesting. This is how it's funded:
| Account | Covers | Income sources |
|---|---|---|
| Work | Work-related injuries | Levies collected from employers. The amount payable as of April 2012 is on average 1.15% of the business's total payroll, but the exact percentage varies between 0.11% and 6.46% depending on the risks associated with each business's industry. |
| Earners | Non-work injuries by income earners | Levies collected in conjunction with tax deductions on income. Paid via the Inland Revenue Department. As of April 2012, the earners levy is 1.70% of non-exempt taxable income up to $113,768 per annum. |
| Non-earners | Non-work injuries by non-income earners (e.g. children, elderly, unemployed, visitors) | Government contribution from the general taxation pool. |
| Motor Vehicle | Injuries relating to motor vehicles on public roads | Levies included in the price of petrol (not diesel or LPG), and through motor vehicle license fees. Levies average $334.52 per year as of April 2012, with motorcycles and heavy vehicles paying more than average due to the increased likelihood of injury associated with these modes of transport. |
| Treatment Injury | Injuries as a result of medical treatment | Funded from the Earners and Non-Earners accounts, depending on the claimants' employment statuses. |
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