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This section contains information for
overseas job seekers interested in working in
New Zealand.
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New
Zealand Lifestyle
The New
Zealand unique lifestyle is possibly one of the biggest draw
card for a lot of overseas professionals thinking of migrating. Measured
in terms of education and employment, equality and opportunity, health
and personal safety, housing and the physical environment, leisure
satisfaction, quality of working life and social welfare provisions, New
Zealand’s standard of living is relatively high.
By such
yardsticks as education, health, infant mortality, life expectancy and
price stability, New Zealand’s situation is comparable to that of
Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States.
In 1937
the Government of the day established the first truly universal welfare
system which offered support to the disadvantaged and created a safety
net for those out of work, in need or without homes or income. This
"cradle to grave" concept as it was known helped to eliminate
almost all poverty and certainly the worst of what one sees in many
developed countries.
New Zealanders pride themselves on having an absence of homeless on the
streets, squatter settlements and shanty towns. However there are
social problems and psychologists and other professionals skills are highly valued and
sought in a range of fields.
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Quality
of life
Demographics
Maori
Culture & Treaty of Waitangi
Climate
Natural
Environment
Education
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New
Zealand has a diverse and multicultural society with those of European
extraction accounting for approximately 70% of the population.
Approximately 13% of the population is Maori, 3% Polynesian and the
balance is made up of a variety of ethnic peoples. Dutch, South
Africans, Chinese, Indians are just a few who have settled in New
Zealand over the years.
Auckland
is the largest city, and the world’s largest Polynesian city, with
a population of over 1.1 million people. Wellington and
Christchurch are the next largest cities with approximately 300,000
residents each. Christchurch is the largest of the South Island cities.
Statistics
indicate that the population of New Zealand was 3, 825,700 people in
December 1999. By 2050 it is projected there will be 4.5 million
people living in New Zealand. This is on a land mass roughly the size of
Japan, the United Kingdom or Italy.
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Maori
and the Treaty of Waitangi;
The
Maori were New Zealand's first settlers. They made an epic journey from
legendary Hawaiki, probably in Polynesia to the north of New Zealand,
about 1000 years ago. The great explorer Kupe, who legend says first
discovered New Zealand, named the new land Aotearoa - Land of the Long
White Cloud.
The
Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand's founding document and established
the country as a nation. It was signed in 1840 between leading Maori
chiefs and representatives of the British Crown. Te Puni Korkiri
provides information on the Crown's relationship with Maori through
the following link www.tpk.govt.nz.
Information of the Treaty of Waitangi can also be found at www.knowledge-basket.co.nz
Employers
will expect applicants to be familiar with cultural issues in New
Zealand, particularly the relevance of the treaty of Waitangi to
clinical practise. We will provide psychologists registered with us a
range of resources that will assist applicants to start to gain a
familiarity with this area prior to any job interviews.
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The
country is in the same hemisphere as South America, South Africa and
Australia. The climate is temperate with moderate year-round rainfall
and in the North Island especially, an absence of extreme temperatures.
New
Zealand is long and narrow, stretching a distance of 1600 kilometres in
a North to South direction and being no more than 450 kilometres wide,
at its widest point. The North and South Islands have a combined area of
approximately 268,000 square kilometres. The sea moderates the climate
bringing mild temperatures and a reliable climate throughout the year.
The country is close to the International dateline and it is claimed
that Gisborne, on the East Coast of the North Island is the first city
in the world to see the light of each new day.
October
through to April are the warmest months and May to September are the
coolest. A typical summers day in the North will range in temperature
between 21 and 28 degrees centigrade (72 and 86 Fahrenheit), while a
mid-winters day will rarely fall below 11 or 12 degrees centigrade
(around 52 Fahrenheit).
Snow is generally not seen at
sea level, though there is an abundance of snow during winter in the
South Island high country and in the mountain ranges in the North
Island. Both the North and South Islands have ample winter ski fields,
with the South Island renowned for the majesty of its mountains and
beauty of its woodlands, lakes and rivers.
Nelson, at the top of the South
Island is the sunniest city in the country, however most of the country
enjoys over 2000 hours of sunshine per year. The country is pollution
free, and recently enacted legislation ensures that the country will
remain that way.
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New
Zealand's natural environment is currently receiving significant fame
through it's depiction as Middle Earth in the Lord of the
Rings trilogy. The reason being that New
Zealand's separation from other land masses for more than 100 million
years has allowed many ancient plants and animals to survive and evolve
in isolation. Complementing New Zealand unique flora and fauna is
a landscape that contains an unrivalled variety of landforms from
mountain ranges to sandy beaches, lush rainforests, glaciers and fiords
and active volcanoes. The characteristic New Zealand forest is a
temperate, evergreen rain forest with giant tree ferns, vines and
epiphytes - looking a bit like the popular image of a jungle.
In spite
of around 1000 years of native bush clearance by humans, about a quarter
of the country still remains forested - mostly in high-country areas.
Most of these remaining areas are protected from exploitation in
national and forest parks, where they can be enjoyed by all.
Comparable in size and/or shape to Great Britain, Colorado and Japan,
New Zealand has a population of only 3.8 million - making it one of the
world's least crowded countries.
Until
recent timed geographical isolation had protected New Zealand's natural
environment however new risks have evolved due to modern travel. As such
New Zealand operates an active bio-security programme and defence
strategies.
Since the
eighties New Zealand as a nation has been nuclear free and thus does not
allow nuclear armed or powered vessels in its territory.
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Formal education is offered free
to all citizens and residents from age 5 through to age 17. New Zealand offers a
mixture of private and public schools, similar to that found in the
United Kingdom. The education philosophy is based on the British
tradition but in recent years it has moved towards both a vocational
application and a South Pacific orientation. The school year commences
February and ends in December.
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