Cobbers and mostly fair dinkum, this Kiwi finds

The Australian Government has led the demonisation of asylum seekers who have arrived by boat.

It has been interesting to read the New Zealand headlines deconstructing the relationship between NZ and Australia.

It seems that a fair proportion of Kiwis think Australians are a racist and unfriendly bunch. While we enjoy a good-humoured ongoing stoush around the various sporting rivalries and gleefully share the Downunder sobriquet, we apparently regard each other with some suspicion when it comes to being friends.

Having lived in Sydney for more than a year now, with frequent trips home to see family in New Zealand, I feel qualified to offer a perspective.

We have found Australians, whether indigenous, colonial descendants or recently arrived immigrants, to be without exemption welcoming and helpful. From the moment we arrived in Sydney, people went out of their way to assist.

There were glitches. There were entanglements with service provider systems - a worldwide source of aggravation and stress - but once you got to talk to an actual person, things were quickly sorted.

One major surprise has been the way people respond when items get accidentally left somewhere.

We had been shopping and purchased a largish whiteboard. In a moment of absentmindedness, I left it behind on a seat outside the mall. We got home, realised we were one whiteboard short and high-tailed it back to the mall.

I am ashamed to say, I thought it would be long gone, based on the NZ experience, which has been that if you leave something in a public space for a few minutes someone will nick it.

A 20-minute dash back to the spot where we had left it was rewarded with the whiteboard carefully placed by some thoughtful person on a step so it could easily be seen. In triumph we took it home and marvelled at the honesty of Mr and Mrs Average Aussie.

It must be acknowledged that we live in a "nice" suburb with tree-lined streets and a significant proportion of recent immigrants who seem to have particular respect for other people's stuff, but nevertheless the incident made a lasting impression.

The other allegation lodged against the Australian national character is racism. There is certainly some of it about, and the government-led demonisation of asylum seekers who have arrived by boat does provoke a nasty aspect of the national psyche.

It is an interesting piece of historical blindness, as the vast majority of Australians, excepting the Aboriginal peoples, are relatively recent immigrants.

The low hum of racism is occasionally revealed in snatches of conversation, but this is often countered by more generous, reasoned comments.

For example, two white Australian matrons on a train were railing against all the foreigners. According to them, they were everywhere and not merging with the wider majority culture.

It was pointed out to the women that if one of them suddenly was stricken with a heart attack it was unlikely they would shoo away a foreign doctor and demand a white Australian one instead.

The women appeared slightly stunned by this idea but, to their credit, also looked thoughtful.

Terry Sarten is a writer, musician living and working in Sydney. Feedback via: tgs@inspire.net.nz or www.telsarten.com/