With just about everyone proffering advice to post-Brexit Britain, it is unlikely the country will pay attention to this piece. And nor should it, given that Britain will soon be truly free to thumb its nose at advice givers.

But in the unlikely event that they do, I would advise them to use experience as their guide. That experience does not have to be positive, nor firsthand.

More explicitly, look at what your big oafish neighbour is doing wrong, and then do the exact opposite. At least that is what New Zealand has done with Australia in many respects, and it is advice Kiwi officials would do well to review again.

Some of the recent absurdities that have cropped up across the ditch include a bid to torpedo a plan to allow the parallel importation of cars from 2018. New Zealand has long allowed this, which explains the profusion of cheap and reliable Japanese vehicles on our roads.

In Australia, these imports are banned to protect domestic car manufacturers. But now that there is no car manufacturing industry left in Australia, you would think that there is no way the parallel import ban could be justified, right? Not so. It turns out car dealers are now putting political pressure on politicians to maintain the ban to preserve their livelihoods.

If we extend this logic we could expect to find that Australia has banned New Zealand fruit or placed costly import conditions on these goods because some farmer has an apple tree. Oh, wait…

It would be nice to think that these are limited cases. But the minor parties and independents that hold the balance of power in Australia have already listed the price of their support. It includes government support for ailing domestic steelmakers, torpedoing the TPPA, and renationalising a number of industries that have long been privatised.

Given the risky path ahead for Britain, it should be recognised that there is no sure fire formula for success. But a good place to start is to avoid repeating other peoples’ absurdities.