Francesca Rudkin: Is the grass really greener across the ditch?

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Jun 9, 2026 · 2m · transcript

Recently I had a guest on the Sunday Session – an Aussie who was in New Zealand and was loving it. They said everyone here was relaxed, welcoming, and smiled at you on the street. They were really taken aback by the mood here compared with over the ditch. In Australia, they said, it’s pretty grim, everyone is down and just getting on with it.

I asked how could that be? I thought the Australian weather and amazing lifestyle put everyone in a good mood. They said it had rained all summer.

I thought this was an interesting observation, but I was a little bit sceptical.

And then I stumbled across…