It’s time to bury the ghost of Robert Muldoon and finally admit that New Zealand is the loser when it comes to trans-Tasman migration. Mostly because, while New Zealand is still a great country, it’s been run into the ground by its elite class. This includes not just the government and its bought-and-paid-for media, but the opposition parties, academia, and the rest of the chattering classes.
And more and more New Zealanders are voting with their feet.
The annual net migration loss to Australia last year was the largest in almost a decade.
While it would be easy to blame that on a rebound effect from the Covid lockdowns, the numbers show that it’s an historically high trend.
Data from Stats NZ for 2022 shows a net migration loss of 13,400 people from New Zealand to Australia, the largest annual loss since 2013.
Last year, 33,863 people migrated from New Zealand to Australia, and 20,431 moved from Australia to New Zealand.
And it’s not just “furriners” from Sri Lanka or Thailand, country-shopping.
One of those who jumped across the ditch was Kiwi nurse Samantha Bomell, who moved from Christchurch to Hervey Bay, north of the Sunshine Coast, in January with her husband Gray and two kids, aged 8 and 10.
She said she has no regrets about making the move, and wishes she had done it sooner.
One may be excused for wondering how often she voted for that nice, kind Jacinda, of course.
Still, it’s a sign of how badly New Zealand’s elites have screwed their country that Australia’s health system, dire as it is, is a lot more attractive to workers than New Zealand’s.
In New Zealand, Bomell worked between 50 and 70 hours a fortnight. In Australia, she works just four days a fortnight, for the same amount of money.
In April it was reported that 5000 Kiwi nurses had registered to work in Australia in the seven months to March, while just 164 Australian nurses had registered to work in New Zealand.
Bomell also said the cost of food, fuel, gas and power is significantly cheaper in Queensland.
And that’s even with the Albanese-created cost-of-living crisis.
And here’s one to send Marama Davidson into a fit of the screaming mee-mees.
In Australia, the first $18,200 of income earned by residents is also tax-free. Bomell said the untaxed income helps her pay for accommodation, clothes and other essentials.
It’s not all upsides, of course.
Bomell mentioned it is difficult to obtain residency and health care, despite working in the health sector.
The only thing she misses in New Zealand, besides her friends, is being able to sleep in the cold at night and the level of hospitality in New Zealand.
“But you give up all of that to be able to afford to feed your family without having to scrape the bottom of the barrel for food and fresh fruit and veggies for your kids,” Bomell said.
“You couldn’t get me to move back to how I was.”
Thanks to Chippy, though, at least one of those downsides has been removed.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins this year said the new pathway to Australian citizenship for Kiwis living in the Lucky Country won’t lead to an exodus of Kiwis.
NZ Herald
Tui — yeah, right.
