Every time I crossed a border in South America these past few weeks I was glad to be from New Zealand. All my travelling companions were from other places, Australia mostly. When we came to a border they had to pay something called a "reciprocity" fee or produce a receipt proving they had paid it. For me, the passport was enough.
The others thought it attractive with its fern on the edge and I was too modest, of course, to tell them its real attraction was the doors it opened without fuss, without cost, without so much as a visa needed in advance. They were fumbling with currencies and documents because their governments imposed the same demands on citizens of other countries. Mine didn't.
At times like this New Zealand feels like the most open, free and worldly country in creation, which it may well be. We hardly ever celebrate this. Most New Zealanders are probably not even aware of it. Those who worry about our immigration in recent years and wonder that John Key's Government has allowed it, might be surprised to know how deeply he believes New Zealand's best interests lie in being as open to the world as we can be.
Helen Clark's Government was hardly less committed to the principle, advancing free trade deals wherever possible, most of them led by the minister who is now Mayor of Auckland. So it was disappointing to arrive home on Tuesday morning, pick up the paper and find Phil Goff on the front page asking for a bed tax on tourists.
If Goff is going to spend his mayoralty pleading for more revenue sources it's going to be tedious. He shouldn't be proposing anything yet, he should be going through the council administration with a fine-tooth comb, asking questions about the need for every staff member, the work they do and how they do it. If he needs extra revenue for the living wage he wants to pay or anything else, it starts there.
