Well, what is one to make of this:
Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with the late Steve Jobs, revealed his fondness for Australia and said he hopes to become a citizen. . . .
Wozniak, who quit Apple in 1987 after 12 years, told local radio in Brisbane last week that he enjoyed his regular visits to Australia.
‘I am… on the way to become an Australian citizen, that’s a little known fact,’ he told station 4BC after queuing up to buy the new generation iPhone 5.
‘It turns out that I get to keep my American citizenship,’ he added.
‘I intend, you know who knows what will follow through in the next five years, I intend to call myself an Australian and feel an Australian, and study the history and become, you know, as much of a real citizen here as I can.’
These are sentiments I well know myself. And I’m sure he will find some Indonesian fisherman that will allow him to make his wishes come true. Of course, what interests him most is the NBN which at $60 billion he thinks is a steal.
Well none of the $60 billion comes from his taxes, and his business will receive benefits from it so of course he’s in favour of it. Everyone loves freebies paid for by other people.
Azrael
26 Sep 12 at 9:11 am
Wozniak is a living legend, and Australia would do well to recruit him if only just to regularly speak at Australian Universities to inspire young people on the possibilities of innovation, big dreams and free markets.
But I suspect the current trickle of Baby Boomer Americans will start to become a torrent within the next decade. It should be encouraged – if they’re self-funded, of course.
Sadly, many Americans find down-under a hostile place after the zombie youth have been fed anti-american propaganda their entire lives.
brc
26 Sep 12 at 9:23 am
The Woz has a long history of choosing poorly – the most obvious one being quitting Apple in 87.
Robert Blair
26 Sep 12 at 9:25 am
Quick, sell it to him!
Rob
26 Sep 12 at 9:38 am
He can read the roadsigns.
Bruce
26 Sep 12 at 9:53 am
Better the Woz than some bigoted creep from Iraq or Afghanistan. Even better that he won’t be on the public teat.
DavidLeyonhjelm
26 Sep 12 at 9:55 am
He’d be a fool to come here to live. Swan would sleeze him as a filthy rich minimal tax payer!!!!!!!
Mike of Marion
26 Sep 12 at 9:57 am
Has anyone told Wozniak that our enterpreneurs go overseas, often to America? In a few years, he’ll go overseas, and we’ll be lamenting another local lost!!!
Nuke Gray
26 Sep 12 at 10:22 am
Poor dumb sumbitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fThS44Na29U&feature=fvwrel
.
26 Sep 12 at 10:25 am
@robert : Wozniak still owns part of Apple and wasn’t interested in getting any richer than he already was. He’s a complex character but a living legend. He will go down in history as one of the few people who single-handedly designed a computer which changed the world.
Australia would be lucky to have someone like him – certainly he would be worth more than some of the athletes we import. There is a dearth of successful small companies in Australia, and too many young people believe the way to success is attaching themselves to the nanny state, rather than thinking independently.
brc
26 Sep 12 at 10:28 am
Just what we need! Another freemason; secret societies doing “jobs for the boys.” I’m all for free marketeering but secret marketeering is another thing.
Lysander Spooner
26 Sep 12 at 10:34 am
Huh???
.
26 Sep 12 at 10:44 am
How many more refugees are we going to get from California?
I hope he has learned the lesson from California and leaves those economy destroying policies there. His statement about the NBN indicates that is a forlorn hope.
Token
26 Sep 12 at 11:52 am
Tough choice for Immigration: Steve Wosniak… Sudanese ‘youth’ with NBL/AFL potential… hmmm.
Big Jim
26 Sep 12 at 12:07 pm
Dibs on that once citezenship is established here he’ll (attempt) to renounce his US citizenship.
Good on anyone who espaces capital controls before they come down hard.
Driftforge
26 Sep 12 at 1:19 pm
Driftforge — unlikely that he’d renounce his US citizenship. The IRS assumes that you’re doing so for tax reasons and begins to seize everything that you’ve ever so much as breathed on.
Jacques Chester
26 Sep 12 at 1:59 pm
Wozniak mustn’t like beer.
He must also like living in government run anti-funvilles.
I thought he was smart?
Infidel Tiger
26 Sep 12 at 2:27 pm
They’re doing that anyway. That’s why the number of renunciations is skyrocketing.
Driftforge
26 Sep 12 at 3:11 pm
What gives the IRS the right to do that – seize assets when you leave?
.
26 Sep 12 at 3:23 pm
The IRS is a terrorist organisation, revolving around customary crimes of protection money, like the Triads or Tongs, but with no romantic connotations. It doesn’t just seize assets when you leave, but whilst you stay (i.e. income takes/taxes/thefts). As for rights, Americans gave those up when they become a Democracy, which was what they always said they were fighting the British for, not freedom FROM government.
Nuke Gray
26 Sep 12 at 4:45 pm
“and study the history”, Manne or Windschuttle? They’re quite different histories!
Harold
26 Sep 12 at 6:56 pm
Wozniak recently did a seminar thing for engineers Australia, who are lobbying for national engineering registration/approval, which they already have a monopoly on in qld.
I thought the whole thing was ironic because under such laws the Stevens would have been breaking the law for practicing electronic engineering without being registered/licensed.
If they invented and sold the apple ll today in qld for example, they would be prosecuted and there business shutdown, because no one is allowed to do any engineering like they did as undergrads. You have to have 3 years under a registered ‘professional’ engineer before you are allowed to engineer in the ‘free’ market. No new start ups by young people like apple can possible occur in qld, and if engineers Australia have their way, for all of Australia.
And they wonder why we don’t have any microelectronics idesign or fab in the country….
Mundi
26 Sep 12 at 7:01 pm
For those that doesn’t know, the USA owns you until death. Even if you leave the USA and never set foot on it’s soil again, you’re still required to file taxes with the IRS. There is no escaping.
When I meet people who are applying for US citizenship, I ask them if they are barking mad. Go for a greencard, sure, but stop short of signing up to Uncle Sam. There is no escape.
brc
26 Sep 12 at 7:56 pm
Joke?
Alex Pundit
26 Sep 12 at 8:11 pm
Hmmm…good luck enforcing that.
.
26 Sep 12 at 8:14 pm
Can we just give it to him as is, where is, and stop spending any more government money on it?
John A
26 Sep 12 at 8:17 pm
I intend to call myself an Australian and feel an Australian,
I wonder which Australian he wants to feel. There must be thousands of willing candidates.
perturbed
26 Sep 12 at 10:04 pm
Mundi, Engineers Australia are a bunch of statist,socialist, dipshit, wankers.
I wondered when someone would pass a law making what I do for a living, illegal.
Eyrie
27 Sep 12 at 6:37 am
I think (hope?) he is just assuming the scale of the NBN rollout is comparable to the U.S. rather than Australia.
Pat Heuvel
27 Sep 12 at 10:39 am