Rachel Smalley: Let's follow Australia, Britain and America - and put ourselves first

Brexit was about keeping Britain for the British. Let's do the same and keep New Zealand for New Zealanders. Photo / AP

I was initially a bit miffed when I heard that Australia was putting the boot into Kiwis again.

This time Canberra says they'll stop subsidising education enrolments for most New Zealand citizens.

But then I thought about it, and i thought, well Australia is doing what Britain has done and what the US has done.

It's looking after its own.

What triggered Brexit? Xenophobia fuelled by high immigration. What led to Donald Trump's election? More or less the same. He campaigned strongly against immigration too.

America is for Americans. And those who voted to leave Europe would agree: Britain is for the British.

And now Australia is following suit.

The Australians are looking after their own and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull knows he'll have widespread support from his voter base on this. The Aussie economy has been struggling for a while. The iron ore market has slumped. The mining boom is over.

Interest rates are tipped to drop shortly. Employment figures are weak. The Australian economy is growing, albeit slowly, but it has been struggling for some time. And so what is Turnbull doing? He's putting Australians first.

Maybe we should do the same.

Perhaps we should do some cost-benefit analysis.

Do we continue to subsidise Australians who study here? Is it beneficial to us? How many Australians remain here and contribute to our economy? Perhaps many do. Or perhaps a lot shuttle back to Australia or further afield with their new qualifications and benefit economies elsewhere.

If it doesn't tick the economic box for us, then perhaps we need to follow Australia's lead. If it doesn't benefit us, stop the subsidy.

And it's not just us. Overnight, Turnbull announced that he would abolish the 457 visa, which allows businesses to hire foreign workers for up to four years in skilled jobs. Most of those who use that visa are Indian. And Turnbull says that visa has gone. Done.

Australia for Australians. Australian jobs are for Aussies. And this is Western Australia - the state hardest hit by the collapse of mining - that it has almost 250,000 people living on the poverty line.

I have typically been pretty critical of Australia and the way it treats its New Zealand residents.

The pathway to Australian citizenship is fraught. Tax-paying Kiwis have almost no access to basic benefits, unlike here where we offer Australians almost all the benefits. But here's the thing.

If you live in Australia, it's your choice to do so. We're living in a different world, a different global economy, change is constant. And you either adapt or you leave.

And there's a message in that for New Zealand, I think.

If accommodating Australian citizens in New Zealand is also a no-win economic situation for us, then let's leave the Anzac spirit for April 25, and let's follow Australia and America and Britain's leads, and put the interests of New Zealanders first.

Let's run some numbers. If it hurts us economically to look after Aussie residents, then let's do a Turnbull. Let's stop. And let's put Kiwis first.