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Ryan Bridge: NZ's isolation is a blessing and a curse · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It'd be easy, I think, to draw comparisons or parallels
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: between our upcoming election and the local and federal upsets
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in Australia were in the UK at the weekend. But
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand is a totally different kettle of fish, in
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  Speaker 1: part because, unlike the Brits and the Aussies, we run
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  Speaker 1: an MMP system. The smaller parties that have traditionally been overlooked,
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  Speaker 1: like One Nation in Australia and Reform in the UK,
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  Speaker 1: are doing well because the major parties have failed on
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  Speaker 1: immigration in the economy. Our system here is designed to
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  Speaker 1: allow these smaller parties more say, therefore fuel wasted votes.
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  Speaker 1: But most importantly, mass migration is not the hot button
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  Speaker 1: political issue here that it is in the UK and
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  Speaker 1: to a less extent Australia, where migration, particularly a legal migration,
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  Speaker 1: big problem. Right the vast distance that you have to
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  Speaker 1: travel to get here is basically our saving grace, but
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  Speaker 1: our isolation is also a curse in many ways. Our
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  Speaker 1: labor productivity, low population based, lack of COMPI and key
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  Speaker 1: consumer sectors thick groceries make us a relatively pricey place
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  Speaker 1: to raise a family, which is a bit of an
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  Speaker 1: issue We're an open economy, we are heavily reliant on
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  Speaker 1: international trade, so when there's a tariff war or international
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  Speaker 1: shipping routes get blocked and jammed up, we are disproportionately
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  Speaker 1: affected compared to our bigger economies, our friends overseas, where
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  Speaker 1: they've got more domestic demand, more buying power, etc. A
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  Speaker 1: government report looking at our undersea infrastructure cables has come out,
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  Speaker 1: Power and Internet shows just how vulnerable we are because
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  Speaker 1: of the distance. Ninety nine percent of our international Internet
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  Speaker 1: goes under sea, and the Cook Straight Power cable provides
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  Speaker 1: up to thirty percent of the North Island's electricity. If
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  Speaker 1: the Russians, or the Chinese or somebody else tried to
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  Speaker 1: cut us off, we would be in big trouble, and
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  Speaker 1: our isolation makes replacing these things more difficult than other countries.
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  Speaker 1: A quarantine or a blockade of Taiwan would be the
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  Speaker 1: worst case scenario for our trade flows, and, as we've
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  Speaker 1: been talking about for years now, could happen anytime from
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven onwards. Our isolation protects US from the
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  Speaker 1: threats faced by the UK, America and to a lesser
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  Speaker 1: extent than Aussies, but exposes unique ones that we should
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  Speaker 1: be king to guard against. For more from Early Edition
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk Set B
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio