Gamlen, A. 2010 New Zealand and its Diaspora, in A. Trlin, P. Spoonley and R. Bedford (eds.) New Zealand and International Migration: A Digest and Bibliography, Auckland: Massey University. (original) (raw)

Since the term entered into the popular imagination in the late 1990s, the “kiwi diaspora” has been the focus of various debates. The most visible of these surround three questions: • Is there a New Zealand “diaspora” and if so what does it look like? • Is it an important issue? • Are current policy responses adequate? This chapter is divided into three sections, addressing each of these questions in turn. The first section draws on analysis of the Every One Counts survey of New Zealand Expatriates collected by Kea New Zealand in early 2006. The second section outlines why the diaspora is an important policy issue in both prudential and normative-political terms. The third section examines how New Zealand relates to its diaspora, drawing on documentary and ethnographic research across eight international locations. The chapter concludes that New Zealand has a substantial “diaspora” although its overall size and durability are uncertain; that the diaspora is an important policy issue in terms of New Zealand’s interests and its obligations; and that current responses are ad hoc rather than coordinated, with inefficient and unfair consequences.