What’s so wrong with New Zealand that 30,000 people would rather live in Australia?

Friday, 11 July 2025

Nearly 30,000 Kiwis left for Australia in 2024, the largest outflow since 2012. Nurses face pay struggles at home while Australia offers higher wages. The government hopes lower mortgage rates will ease pressures and slow the exodus.

ANALYSIS: Last year, a stadium-worth of people left New Zealand for Australia.

The migration figures for the Tasman showed a net loss of 30,000 people for New Zealand. Those findings, released by Stats NZ on Thursday, sparked concern about a brain drain hampering growth and plundering morale back in New Zealand.

But the acting prime minister, David Seymour, promised things would get better.

In the face of the numbers, which showed the highest level of migration from New Zealand to Australia in more than a decade, he said the coalition Government needed more time for its policies to settle in.

“I’m not surprised that in the year after the government changed, we still faced very tough conditions,” he said.

“I expect that, as time goes on, as we maintain really careful spending as a Government … there will be a lot more reason for people to stay in New Zealand. That of course takes some time, but I believe that New Zealand is going to be an increasingly good vote as this Government goes on,” he said.

But if the Government is going to turn back the tide that’s taking Kiwi across the Tasman, it has a lot of work to do.

There are five key areas where the Australian economy and government is outperforming New Zealand:

Australia continues to draw Kiwis from New Zealand.

1. The economy

Australia is a far wealthier country than New Zealand.

GDP per capita sits at $106,000 in Australia, whereas New Zealand sits around $80,000 per capita.

While the wealth gap is clear, recent economic results from both sides of the Tasman show New Zealand is making ground.

In June, Finance Minister Nicola Willis celebrated when New Zealand’s economic growth outpaced Australia. The economic results for the first quarter of this year showed 0.8% growth for New Zealand, but just 0.2% in Australia.

Economic commentators in Australia blamed extreme weather events for hampering production in summer.

2. Wages

A wealthier nation means higher wages in Australia.

The average weekly income in Australia is NZ$2152, according to its bureau of statistics.

The most recent data for New Zealand, which was published by Stats NZ last year, had the average weekly at $1343 per person.

Australian state governments have been expanding public transport options in their cities.

3. Transport

The state governments of Australia’s fastest growing cities have invested heavily into building better transport networks.

This has seen heavy rail and light rail developments in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, as well as expanded train services in Perth.

In New Zealand, only Auckland has had any significant investment into new public transport. And that has been limited.

The coalition Government cancelled the Auckland Light Rail project at the start of last year. However, the City Rail Link, which will boost Auckland’s commuter train services, is expected to open next year.

4. Employment prospects

During the Covid-19 response, New Zealand broke the normal Tasman migration trend. The pandemic saw more people move from Australia than leave New Zealand.

At that time, the unemployment rate in New Zealand was lower than in Australia. It was easier to find work here.

At the end of 2021, New Zealand had an unemployment rate of just 3.1%. It has since risen to 5.1% after trending up since the pandemic.

In 2021, Six60 performed at Eden Park - but the country’s biggest stadium has hosted few other big concerts.

In Australia, at the end of 2021, the unemployment rate was 4%. It remains at 4.1%. Unemployment there actually decreased, but it has hovered around 4% since 2023.

5. Vibes

Economic indicators and transport projects give macro signs about the strength of a country. But when New Zealanders discuss why they’ve moved to Australia, they also talk about “lifestyle” - and that is a vibe.

Much of the migration across the Tasman is being driven by young New Zealanders.

How do you improve vibes as government? You could look to the cultural vibrancy of the nation.

There has been a lot said, in recent years, about how New Zealand is now being left off tour schedules for musicians who used to pay a visit to (at the very least) Auckland.

The health of Wellington and Auckland’s night life has also been making headlines, with beloved bars, cafés and restaurants all announcing closures.

The creative sector - which is people who perform, make art and things for us to watch - is also struggling. It’s in recession, making less money last year than it did in 2023.

In recent years, there has been a lot said about the “mojo” of New Zealand. In fact, the person who talked about that was then National Party leader Christopher Luxon. He said he would get the country’s “mojo” back.

To do that, he will need to turn around tough economic facts - but also work out how to boost morale and convince Kiwis looking to leave that things actually will get better.