New Zealand may be famous for its sheep, but Australia is famous for its lamb. And for stealing all of New Zealand’s best stuff. And for not being able to hold onto a Prime Minister, while looking longingly over the ditch at the Kiwis’ awesome, young, funny, feminist, Vogue-modelling, Colbert-guesting PM.
So it’s with tongues planted firmly in cheeks that the latest ad from the Meat & Livestock Association follows a certain actor’s lead in inviting New Zealand to be our newest state, so that we can continue to borrow all their best stuff – including Jacinda Ardern – in exchange for delicious lamb.
The full version of the #ShareTheLamb ad shows how we attempted to ring in NZ on the whole federation thing in 1901 (it’s true!) and then cuts to a crisis meeting in current-day Australia, complete with Prime Ministerial portraits being switched out in the background every two minutes.
Turns out that letting New Zealand be their own country is where we went wrong all those years ago – why else would we have spent the last 119 years claiming things they made as our own national icons?
Guess who?
A mid-Tasman summit complete with floating BBQ laden with sizzling chops sees our eager Aussie representatives working out the details with two sweet, bemused Kiwi bros: a name change (negotiated down from “New Australia” to “New Australia-land”), and access to tasty cuts of lamb in exchange for their PM becoming ours as well.
Not to mention a new national day, on “a date we can all agree on” – a lovely, subtle shoutout to the #ChangeTheDate campaign to move Australia Day so it’s not on January 26, which is considered by Indigenous communities to be a day of mourning.
Let’s just say it’s not going to be Scott Morrison’s favourite ad of the year.
The lamb ad is now a January tradition, dating back to the days of Sam Kekovich bellowing into the camera about how lamb is the Aussiest thing there is. While Kekovich is still on board – catch his floating cameo at the ocean BBQ! – this cheeky take is a sly, subversive and even funnier vision of Australia.
The last couple of years’ ads have played on the Australia Day controversy and our near-constant political arguments – but the suggestion that we swap out our PM for someone much more chill is unlikely to be controversial at all.