An alarming survey has shown more than a third of Kiwis have considered moving to Australia in the past year, as poor economic prospects drive record numbers overseas.
This is an all-time high of 80,000 New Zealanders leaving overseas in the year to the end of September, with around half of them estimated to be heading to the lucky country.
New Zealand is in the throes of a “brain drain” as young Kiwis seek better jobs, better prices and wages across the ditch or further afield.
Earlier this month a survey conducted by The mail and Freshwater Strategy found that 37 per cent of New Zealand voters (more than a third) had seriously considered emigrating to Australia in the past 12 months.
That compares with just 8 per cent of Australian voters who have considered moving to New Zealand.
Of the Kiwis who considered the move, the most represented age group was New Zealanders aged 18 to 35 (55 per cent).
In terms of their political leanings, it was Te Pati Māori voters (55 per cent) who were most eager to leave, followed by supporters of the libertarian ACT party and the Greens (both 41 per cent).
The survey also showed that a failing economy was at the forefront of voters’ minds, with 60 percent selecting cost-of-living pressures as their most important concern.
One survey found that 37 per cent of New Zealand voters (more than a third) had seriously considered emigrating to Australia.
Economic commentator Brad Olsen said the data showed monetary pressures in New Zealand were “really starting to bite”.
“Obviously, a lot more people are thinking about options for the future,” Mr. Olsen said. the press.
‘Right now, with New Zealand’s unemployment rate higher than Australia’s, there are a lot of people looking at those numbers and saying: there are better job opportunities relatively speaking in Australia. I could go there and shoot.
‘It’s not just about single individuals going away for a couple of years. “We are seeing more families moving to Australia en masse, and that is raising concerns about where our future job market will be as New Zealand’s population ages.”
The latest available figure on unemployment in New Zealand is 4.8 per cent, while Australia’s is 4.1 per cent.
Although record numbers of Kiwis are leaving their home country, there was still a net migration increase of almost 45,000 in September 2024, according to Stats NZ.
But that figure had fallen from a net migration peak of 136,300 in October 2023.
By contrast, Australia’s net migration in the year to March 2024 was 509,800 people.
Only 8 per cent of Australian voters have considered moving to New Zealand
New Zealanders can live and work in Australia, and vice versa, using specially created visas.
Last year, the Federal Government announced that Kiwis who had lived in Australia for at least four years on a special category visa could apply for citizenship.
Citizenship brings a number of benefits, including a social safety net, access to student loans and working in a variety of public service and defense roles reserved only for Australians.
Kiwis are Australia’s fourth-largest migrant community, behind China, India and the United Kingdom, according to Department of Home Affairs data.
About 586,020 Kiwis lived in Australia in June 2022, 2.9 per cent more than the figure a decade earlier.
Why a hard-working New Zealand couple decided to leave New Zealand to live in Australia
New Zealand couple Tim and Eva Mitchell are in the middle of a year-long trip around the world, but the adventurous Kiwi couple say the only thing that made it possible was leaving their homeland to live in Australia.
In 2019, the couple followed the path of thousands of Kiwis across Tasmania in search of higher wages and more career opportunities.
After just 16 months of living in Melbourne, where Eva, 28, worked as an IVF pharmacist and Tim, 33, worked for the same engineering firm that employed him in New Zealand, the couple had saved enough to finance a year of travel abroad.
“If we stayed in New Zealand we probably wouldn’t be able to travel – we wouldn’t have saved enough,” Eva told Daily Mail Australia from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Everyone is struggling around the world, but in New Zealand I think they are falling behind.”
New Zealand couple Eva and Tim Mitchell (pictured in Melbourne) said moving to Australia was “the best thing they’ve ever done”.
More money for Kiwis moving to Australia
He said that by moving to Australia, the couple earned salaries 30 per cent higher than at home, plus they discovered there were many other financial advantages, such as tax deductions for work expenses, that simply did not exist in New Zealand.
in your Earn travel cents Blog Eva writes that the couple “knew that moving to Australia would mean we could save more money AND save money faster than if we stayed in New Zealand, just by getting better-paying jobs.”
“What we didn’t realize were the many other ways that living in Australia would facilitate our savings goals, starting with having to pay less income tax,” he writes.
‘An average Australian full-time salary of $95,000 requires you to pay approximately $21,300 in income tax per year.
“In New Zealand, on the same salary (if you can find a job that pays the equivalent), you would have to pay around $23,200 in income tax a year.”
However, that wasn’t even the best.
“In Australia, you are entitled to claim tax refunds on a range of work expenses,” he said.
The adventurous New Zealand couple has been traveling the world for a year (pictured in Cappadocia, Turket)
‘These include professional fees, work from home costs, work tools, conference costs, work clothing and much more.
‘At the end of the day, we found that Australia not only pays better; it allows you to keep more of what you earn.’
Eva recalled that when the couple moved to Australia, “everyone said make sure you claim your taxes back.”
“As far as we knew we were never able to claim the same expenses in New Zealand, not on normal jobs, maybe if you ran a business,” he said.
“The grass is certainly greener.”
More career opportunities
Both Eva and Tim enjoyed career opportunities in Australia that they would not have in New Zealand.
Eva went from being a pharmacist in a public hospital in Christchurch to working in a private IVF clinic and in a private sector pharmacy role that she said did not exist in New Zealand.
“With my new job came a raise, bonuses and a small team where I felt valued,” she wrote on the blog.
The couple said that when they finish their trips to Europe and Asia they will return to Australia.
Even if he had returned to public sector pharmacy, the pay rise in Australia would have been substantial.
Despite working for the same company, Tim also got “a significant pay rise to move to Australia”, something that would have taken him “years” to obtain in New Zealand.
“Shortly after moving to Australia, Tim was able to secure a position of greater authority, which is testament to the career progression opportunities that Australian businesses can offer New Zealand professionals wishing to relocate to Australia,” Eva wrote.
‘As well as a pay rise, Tim’s transfer deal provided us both with flights to Melbourne and a month’s free accommodation in an apartment in Melbourne’s CBD until we could secure our own rental property. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself!’
Better work-life balance
As if charging more wasn’t enough, Tim and Eva discovered that Australians work fewer hours than Kiwis and that supermarkets are cheaper.
“The standard work week in New Zealand is 40 hours (compared to 38 in Australia), so over the course of a whole year there is a difference of about 100 hours,” Eva said.
“It doesn’t sound like much, two hours a week, but it is, and we found it convenient because it gives you time to visit the banks when they are open.”
He also said that in Victoria, “seasonal rebates on dining, activities and electricity bills are offered to all residents.”
“Thanks to these cash back programs, we were reimbursed hundreds of dollars during our time living in Melbourne,” he writes.
Eva and Tim also liked living in Melbourne, which has a population about four times the size of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland.
“If we wanted something close to the size of Melbourne, the only option is Auckland, but it’s obviously quite expensive to be there,” Eva said.
‘It’s probably on a par with Melbourne, but you get better salaries in Melbourne.
‘You just don’t have the same opportunities. “There’s always something to do in Melbourne, there’s always events.”
After a 10-month stay in Europe, the couple plans to spend two more months in Southeast Asia before returning home, which is no longer in New Zealand.
“I can’t imagine returning to New Zealand,” Eva said.
‘Salary is a big problem. If we could get the same salary we could come back, but we’re still missing the city lifestyle.’
Eva said that she and Tim regretted something.
“We feel guilty about leaving, we miss our celebrations at home, so we feel guilty about missing that,” she said.
Eva said they wouldn’t have done it.“They left” their country if “they could have taken care of us.
“Australia has given us opportunities that we simply wouldn’t have in New Zealand,” he said.
“People may call us unpatriotic, but we have to do what’s best for us.”