Kiwis losing sense of 'who we are, why we are here'

James Begg is worried about young New Zealanders.

The 27-year-old Australian with a degree in politics followed his partner to Dunedin and is working as a hotel manager.

He answered the Herald's questions outside a supermarket, went to his car, then came back to offer more considered comments.

"In New Zealand there is such a generational gap between the younger and older generations. It seems like something happened in the 1980s that affected the development of the New Zealander.

"It seems to me that a lot of young New Zealanders lack a focus - lack a bit of direction and a lot of vision, perhaps.

"At university there is always going to be a lot of drinking. But there just seems to be a lot more floating, a little less real belief in the political system, in things like God, in things that are important in life.

"I think the young Australian is perhaps a little more global in their thinking. You also tend to get the feeling from older New Zealanders that they have that sense of direction."

Dunedin nurse Mary-Jane Brown came home recently after five months in Australia with a similar impression.

"I came back horrified at how New Zealanders don't have the same sense of hope for the future," she says.

"Australians are very positive, buoyant, cheerful. We have always been more reserved, but in the past we had a better sense of who we are, why we are here."

Retired Whakatane couple Don and Kath Geddes feel "the direction of people's lives is more and more selfish".

In Christchurch, Fraser Nash, 27, is also just back from Australia and finds New Zealand "self-obsessed and parochial".

"I don't think we think on a grand enough scale," he says.

This series has found that voters intending to shift to right-wing parties in next month's election are worried about their incomes and taxes, the cost of "handouts", especially to Maori, the decline of the two-parent family, and immigration.

Perhaps these boil down to three underlying concerns: that the next generation should have a good standard of living, stable family relationships and a sense of national coherence and direction.

The two major parties officially launch their election campaigns this weekend. They now know what voters will be looking for.