Trans-Tasman political influence runs deep

Trans-Tasman political influence runs deep

New Zealanders may resent the suggestion of being governed by Australia but history shows us Australian political influence is not new in this country.

New Zealand's first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand Michael Savage was an Australian, as was the country's Labour Party first leader Harry Holland. And Australia's first Labour Prime Minister John Christian Watson was raised in New Zealand.

Strong political links are part of a shared Tasman history between Australia and New Zealand, says AUT University Professor Ray Markey, convenor of the Trans-Tasman Labour History Conference being held in Auckland next week.

"History is still shaping the labour movement's approach to its environment in each country, and its response to new global influences," he says.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries political activists and unionists moved regularly between Australia and New Zealand, and more widely between the other outposts of the Pacific as far as to San Francisco. Historical global influences are not new, he says.

Professor Markey says the conference will examine the global historical forces which influenced New Zealand and Australia.

"It will look at the influences which they exerted on each other and the common experiences of New Zealanders and Australians as a result of global influences," he says.

"We hope to contribute to understanding a joint history as a step towards the development of global history," says Professor Markey.

"At the same time we hope to rescue the ordinary worker – male and female, European, Maori, Aboriginal or Asian – from the enormous condescension of traditional history which focuses on great white men and their military and diplomatic achievements, and to celebrate the achievements of ordinary workers over the past century and a half." AUT Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack will open the two-day event. Conference topics include: Gender and the trans-Tasman common labour market; Michael J. Savage: MP for Auckland West; and Trade unionism and the struggle for democracy in Tonga.

Trans-Tasman Labour History Conference Tuesday January 30 and Wednesday February 1 AUT University City Campus Conference Centre Room WA220 55 Wellesley Street East Auckland

The conference is being presented by the Centre for Work and Labour Market Studies (CWaLMS) and AUT University School of Social Sciences.

ENDS

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