The REAL NZ vs the JAFAs

from the Sunday Star-Times....

Auckland versus the rest of NZ: It's a classic
big brother, little brother relationship

People love to hate our largest city, and it gets
less sympathy when natural disasters hit.

By CRAIG HOYLE | 5:00AM — Sunday, 22 April 2018

Why the hate for Auckland? New Zealand's largest city is actually a beautiful place
to live and play. — Photograph: Simon Maude.

THE TWEETS rained down hard on our largest city.

“Why do I physically hate Auckland,” wrote one social media user, while others poured scorn as residents struggled to recover from the largest storm in a decade.

Columnist Rachel Stewart told Aucklanders to harden up and get a resilience plan.

Her scathing words came as tens of thousands of people went days without power, some facing the frightening prospect of going without food and water.

Hundreds of trees came crashing down in hurricane-force winds on the night of April 10. Arcing power lines lit up the sky, and the next morning poles were strewn over roads like matchsticks.

Initially, more than 180,000 homes were cut off from the grid, and on Friday, ten days later, Vector was still working to restore power to a number of properties across the region.

This wasn't the first time the City of Sails experienced a massive power cut, and it likely won't be the last.

The big one happened back in January 1998 after a 40-year-old gas-insulated 110kV cable failed and plunged central Auckland into darkness for five weeks.

More than 70,000 people were forced to work from home, and those living in apartments had to relocate elsewhere until the power was eventually restored.

As was the case in 1998, there was little sympathy in recent weeks from many south of the Bombays.

Stewart pointed out many in the regions often had to wait weeks for power to be reconnected following a storm.

“Plus we get the chainsaw out and sort the downed trees, start the generator, fix the roof, and cope with instant coffee if we have to. Or moonshine. Whatever's available.”

Stewart says her tweets were supposed to be funny and she wasn't trying to pick on Auckland.

“But it does seem to me that urban people are very focused on urban things, and they forget that living in a big city in New Zealand won't actually save them.”

Aucklanders have embraced the derogatory term ‘JAFA’ (‘Just another f***** Aucklander’), in the same way that some other communities have turned insults into terms of endearment.

“You know that NZ is a nice and supportive country when it turns into a ‘hate on Auckland’ session every time a disaster happens lol,” wrote one Twitter user.

Columnist Rachel Stewart says Aucklanders should harden up and stop complaining
about storm damage. — Photograph: David White.

Hundreds of trees came crashing down in hurricane-force winds on the night of April 10.
— Photograph: Jarred Williamson.

Scafolding collapsed at a building site in Hobsonville Point as the storm swept
through Auckland. — Photograph: Lawrence Smith.

WHY THE DIVIDE?

James Liu, a professor of psychology at Massey University, says personality differences help explain why the rest of the country sometimes feels alienated from a booming Auckland.

Aucklanders tend to have a more open, global outlook, while those in provincial New Zealand place greater importance on character traits such as humility and honesty.

You could be forgiven for thinking we're not all that interested in getting to know each other — a survey in 2016 found more Aucklanders have been to Sydney than Queenstown.

The survey also highlighted a larger rivalry between the North and South Island as it found that more Southlanders have visited Melbourne and the Gold Coast than the Bay of Islands or Coromandel.

“Each group validates their own in-group characteristics, and maybe downgrades the other one a little bit,” says Liu.

Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt thinks the rest of the country sometimes feels overwhelmed by a city that boasts one-third of our population.

“It feels like it throws the whole country out of kilter, in a way,” he says. “It does generate a bit of resentment.”

Shadbolt says there's also a feeling that when natural disasters happen, cities like Auckland are big enough and strong enough to look after themselves.

It's a classic big brother, little brother relationship.

Shadbolt adds: “You think sometimes, why does everyone want to live in Auckland, and not provincial New Zealand? What's wrong with us? We're friendly, we're financially successful, and we have the lowest unemployment rate.”

But be warned: hating on Auckland can carry a price, as Dean Anderson discovered as an eight-year-old back in 1997.

The Christchurch local waved a banner reading “I hate Auckland” at a Canterbury NPC game, unaware of the uproar he would cause.

There were calls for him to be banned from Lancaster Park and he avoided going to the rugby for many years.

In a 2013 interview, he admitted: “I can see how people would get quite wound up about it”.

Professor James Liu says there are personality differences between Auckland
and the rest of the country. — Photograph: Victoria University.

Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt thinks the rest of the country sometimes feels
overwhelmed by Auckland. — Photograph: John Hawkins.

AUCKLAND'S CHEERLEADER

Auckland councillor Richard Hills is an unapologetic cheerleader for the supercity.

He loves the city's diversity, and points to the fact people from more than 200 ethnicities call it home. Mostly, you can express yourself however you like and feel accepted.

The city has beaches, bush, and sunshine, and is regularly ranked as one of the best places in the world for quality of life.

On the flip side, it also faces traffic gridlock and a crippled housing market that has driven more impoverished families into cars and onto the streets.

Hills understands why some people get sick of hearing about Auckland. And yeah, it must get boring seeing a city always in the news if you're in a different part of the country.

But, Hills says, “we've still got over a third of the country here, and we're really large, so people should expect we get a lot of coverage”.

He says Auckland provides a lot of economic support to the rest of the country, and if the city gets ahead, then the rest of New Zealand gets ahead too.

Some might consider that non-Aucklanders are actually jealous given that Auckland is expected to provide 60 per cent of New Zealand's population growth over the next two decades, which means many of the jobs will be created there.

Or could they be envious that Auckland has the highest annual average household income with almost a third of households earning $100,000 or more?

Auckland is regularly ranked as one of the best places in the world for quality of life.
— Photograph: Fairfax NZ.

Auckland councillor Richard Hills is an unapologetic cheerleader for the supercity. — Photograph: Chris McKeen.

Auckland councillor Richard Hills is an unapologetic cheerleader for the supercity.
— Photograph: Christ McKeen.

Hills says the storm was a scary time for many Aucklanders, and they have every right to be upset. — Photograph: Chris Skelton.

Hills says the storm was a scary time for many Aucklanders, and they have every right
to be upset. — Photograph: Chris Skilton.

“IT'S TOUGH FOR US TOO”

Hills thinks it's unfair for people to pile on Auckland following a natural disaster.

He also says comparisons to Christchurch aren't helpful, and that when people are suffering, they're not usually stopping to think about whether someone else has had a worse experience. It's all relative at the time.

That doesn't take away from the horrendous things that happened in the Christchurch earthquake, including loss of life, but Hills defends Aucklanders as having every right to be upset.

“It's a scary time for a lot of people,” he says.

Liu says any sniping against Auckland is relatively tame compared to other bitter grievances such as those between China and Japan.

Research after major earthquakes and natural disasters in Japan showed that a number of mainland Chinese thought the Japanese people were getting what they deserved.

Here in New Zealand, Liu says, the grievances are minor and the dominant response is actually sympathy. The extreme voices have to be balanced against the reality that most Kiwis are very good at helping each other out when bad things happen.

Hills agrees that sometimes we give too much attention to the loud voices saying that Auckland sucks.

Shadbolt likes to think we share a common sense of patriotism.

Most of us, he believes, feel empathy and sympathy for Kiwis affected by a crisis, no matter where they live.

But there will always be the haters.

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