For a change, I think Abbott's comment deserves investigation. The Q'ld premier has been saying things would have been much worse without Wivenhoe dam, but it is now releasing over 200 megalitres/day. It seems unlikely that our current solutions are as close to perfect as possible and that no further dams could lessen future flooding. Also, more clean hydro power would be a great thing and we yet we haven't built any new hydro systems to my knowledge in a long time.

I wouldn't have thought it would matter much whether the NZ bank had branches here. Sending money internationally is pretty easy. (The fees are excessive compared to the cost to the bank, but generally fixed and therefore become insignificant when the sum is sizable.)