Kiwis have just knocked off two cultural peaks

Eleanor Catton. PHOTO/FILE

I have seen the pictures of the Whanganui River in flood and I am sure the town will rise to the occasion, as it always has, to help those whose homes and businesses have been inundated.

The river flows through the town, peaceful and benign most of the time, but now and then it shows its power as if to remind us of who was here first and that nature runs to a different timetable.

A friend who had just moved to premises near the river provided a view of this that is worth quoting.

"Here I was coming back to the Mighty River and now it seems as if it will take everything.

"River you are so strong and so old, our life around you is so small by comparison. The river came over the road to greet the newcomers but then came no higher."

In a total contrast to the massive amounts of rain that have fallen in the North Island, here in New South Wales the long, hot, dry spell has led to a string of bushfires which have destroyed homes and forced people to flee.

Australia seems to have climate - long periods of heat and drought - while New Zealand gets weather, with it changing almost by the hour. Perhaps travellers across the Tasman could form the airline equivalent of a bucket chain with every passenger taking a container of water with them to sprinkle on the parched Australian land.

I think we are entitled to crow a little now that Kiwis have knocked off two cultural peaks in the past few weeks.

One was Eleanor Catton's book The Luminaries taking the Man Booker prize. This is a major global literary pinnacle and a reminder that some of us have more talent than others, but we can be proud that she comes from New Zealand and to use an Ed Hillary "knocked the bastard off".

The other cultural ascent came just when music seemed to have reached a vanishing point where being under-dressed, over-produced and underwhelming was all that was required. Then Lorde, a schoolgirl from Auckland, landed on the number one spot in the US charts. This will enable us to stand in the reflected glory of this, smugly noting that she appears to have done this without taking off her clothes.

The concept of entitlement is all over the Australian media as a stream of revelations figuratively tar and feather politicians on all sides.

At the centre of the furore is the Prime Minister Tony Abbott who has claimed taxpayer funding to attend weddings, to compete in sports events, a promotional tour for his book and even for time spent "volunteering" in a small community.

His conscience and public scrutiny prompted him to pay some of it back but the sticking point is that he thought it was all right to have such things paid for by the taxpayer in the first place. Others accused of playing fast and loose with entitlements include George Brandis, the Australian Attorney-General.

These revelations have provided a "Duh!" moment for all involved. It doesn't seem to have even occurred to them that they were not entitled to use Government funds to attend private events.

As the media have noted, getting taxpayer dollars to pay to attend the wedding of a friend does not even pass the pub test. When it comes to political scandal, Australia seems to have a particular flair for flaunting entitlement as a right to be abused.

It may be that being elected members of Parliament in the "lucky country" went to their heads and they felt it would be lucky if no one ever found out.

Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker currently residing in Sydney - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz or www.telsarten.com