New Zealand and Australia have their own little regulatory system which will keep GA there healthy and moving forward.
They are also so far from anywhere (in GA flight terms) that nobody nearby is likely to complain if they bring in regs which the neighbours don't approve of.
Here in Europe, we have a regulatory scene run largely by a bunch of elitist old ex airline codgers who (if they got their way) would ban everybody without an ATPL from flying IFR. I am certain that if it wasn't for ICAO, European GA would have been stuffed long ago.
There is a possibility (obviously I hope I am wrong) that in 20 years' time the only GA in Europe will be the "ultralight sports" stuff, buzzing around between farm strips at 500ft AGL, and the rest will be confined to the islands i.e. the USA, Australia, NZ, plus perhaps India and China if they play things over there the right way and follow the U.S. model.