Friday, October 13, 2023

Australia has never looked more appealing

It came as no surprise to read that the number of New Zealanders leaving the country approached record levels in the year to August 31.

There was a net migration loss of 42,600 New Zealand citizens, not far short of the record loss of 44,400 in 2012. More than half of those leavers were bound for Australia.

Overall, migration figures show an unprecedented population increase. Annual migrant arrivals reached an all-time high of 225,400. Most of the new arrivals came from India, China, the Philippines, Fiji and South Africa.

New Zealand must seem an attractive destination to people from countries suffering from overcrowding, poverty, political repression, pollution, violence and corruption. But the migration figures also tell another, less encouraging story.

New Zealand is looking less and less hospitable to people who have grown up here. They remember what the country of their birth used to be like and they know what it’s capable of being. They have watched with dismay as a prosperous, settled, liberal democracy has been destabilised and transformed into a squabbling, sullen and ill-tempered society that they no longer recognise.

They have not only seen economic prospects – historically a key driver of emigration – diminished by an incompetent, profligate government; they have also watched with mounting disquiet as social cohesion has been undermined by extreme, officially sanctioned ideological agendas that have prevailed unchallenged since 2020.

Even more depressingly, many see little prospect of improvement post-election. Small wonder, then, that so many New Zealanders find Australia appealing. I suspect that many of those who have already left shut the door behind them, albeit regretfully, and have no intention of returning. Those of us who remain are diminished by their loss.

As is often the pattern with external migration, many of those who have gone will have been skilled, highly educated and ambitious for social and economic advancement. As Kiwibank economist Jarrod Kerr observed, “We lose trained, smart individuals. That is something that worries us.”

The leavers will no doubt have been encouraged by an Australian law change last year that eased the pathway to Australian citizenship. This was naively greeted by the media – and celebrated by the New Zealand government – as a breakthrough after years of Australian intransigence.

In fact the Australians would have been motivated less by a sudden, uncharacteristic rush of goodwill toward their neighbours across the Ditch than by the realisation that opening the doors to talented and well-trained New Zealanders made perfect sense, especially when a recovering post-Covid Australian economy was desperate for skilled, hard-working (and English-speaking) people.

In other words, what was played up by New Zealand politicians as a gain was in fact Australia cleverly taking advantage of mounting social, political and economic unease under a floundering Labour government here. To put it bluntly, we were screwed. And it worked: the Guardian reported in August that New Zealanders were applying for Australian citizenship at the rate of 375 a day.

The latest migration figures particularly resonated with me because my wife and I have just spent two weeks in Queensland. While there, I couldn’t help but be struck by the vibrant, dynamic, prosperous vibe and the general mood of positivity. It stood in striking contrast to the sulky, bitchy mood at home.

We stayed with my brother-in-law and his wife in Brisbane and our son and his family in Noosa. They enjoy a very good life, a high standard of living and didn’t give me the impression of pining for home.

I drove up to Hervey Bay to visit a cousin, I spent an enjoyable day with a former colleague from my Nelson Evening Mail days and we had a long lunch with an old friend of our son who moved to Brisbane many years ago. Our friend's parents and siblings had made the move too.

They are among the estimated 670,000-plus New Zealanders living in Australia. Two nephews and a niece have also settled there, along with several old school friends and an almost uncountable number of ex-workmates. Most are still proud to call themselves Kiwis but they are better off there.

We spent several years in Australia in the early 1970s – our first child was born there – but I had never thought about returning there to live. This time I did. The appeal of Australia historically ebbs and flows, but right now it’s running very high.

It’s not just the lure of the climate and the beaches, enticing though they are. It’s something much more elemental than that. It’s the feeling that New Zealand has become a broken, demoralised society – a perception accentuated when I made the mistake of visiting NZ news websites while in Queensland and read mostly about violent crime and failing infrastructure.

As a former news editor I have to remind myself that a lot of news is, by definition, bad. Still, stories about a massive sinkhole opening up in the centre of Auckland and the unexplained damage to the iconic Ranfurly Shield (not to mention the implication that illegal drugs were involved in the latter incident) seemed somehow symbolic of a country in decline.

This negative perception was magnified on the bus trip into Wellington from the airport on our return. The once proud capital (remember the “Absolutely Positively Wellington” campaign?) looked like Dublin in the 1980s, which is not a flattering comparison. The first people we saw on the streets were a trio of high-as-a-kite derelicts falling about in a Kilbirnie bus shelter. Vape shops and tattoo parlours lined the route and the city generally looked unkempt and unloved. It couldn't have made a more striking contrast with the shining, humming Brisbane we had left behind.

Of course Australia has its issues too. Tomorrow’s referendum on whether Aborigines should have a constitutionally enshrined “voice” in Parliament was the dominant story while we were there, and it’s an issue as divisive as co-governance (with which it has obvious parallels) here.

Australia, like New Zealand and virtually every other English-speaking democracy, is also mired in the culture wars initiated by neo-Marxists in the universities. But from the perspective of a New Zealander, these problems, as long as they occur in Australia, have the great virtue of being someone else’s. I don’t feel I have any emotional stake in them, nor any right to pronounce an opinion. Here is different; this is my country.

All of which brings us to the election. And for the first time, after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to exercise a passive protest by not casting a party vote. I will be among the hundreds of thousands of abstainers who threaten to make this the lowest turnout in New Zealand election history

It’s not just that I find the options too thoroughly depressing. Rather, I see no good whatsoever coming from this election and don’t want to feel responsible in any way for the outcome – which, however the voting plays out, will almost inevitably perpetuate the paralysing malaise gripping the country and condemn us to further decline. 

In the end, the decision came down to a relatively simple calculus. Do I desperately want to get rid of the Labour government and its Green hangers-on? Yes. But even to the extent of giving my vote to parties that I can't in conscience support? No.

I won’t join the exodus to Australia, because we have deep family attachments here. But New Zealand feels buggered, not to put too fine a point on it, and I have no confidence that whatever wretched, compromised hybrid government rises from the post-election swamp after tomorrow will have the will, the ability or the moral fibre to fix it.


26 comments:

  1. Like you, Karl, I am despairing of the racially divided mess our once proud nation has sunk to. I simply do not believe that an incoming coalition will have the courage or motivation to address this issue, and we will keep slithering into a third world apartheid backwater. Like you I have deep family connections here, otherwise I would probably leave and return to Australia.

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  2. Put me down as one of the disillusioned Kiwis.

    77 year old pensioner and currently living in Cambodia.

    Left NZ permanently nearly 10 years ago, looking for a better alternative, as I could see my beautiful country heading down the dunny.
    I visit home from time to time and love the countryside, scenery and beachs.
    The rest is rubbish in my opinion.

    Cambodia has for me, the vibe of 1950/60s NZ.
    Lots of growth, activity and friendly people.
    No ram raids here.
    Cost of livng is totally acceptable.

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  3. On a brighter note, I seem to remember that most of us were quite content in 2017 under National. In the past, whoever was in power, they could fundamentally be trusted to have most Kiwi's interests at heart. As a nation we have been betrayed recently by people in power who are extremist traitors to NZ in my view. However, the Kiwi is not yet extinct. God help any incoming government that is not straight up with 'the team of 5 million'. Most of us have lost trust in almost every institution, and trust, once lost is very tricky to un-lose. IMHO we have become a corrupt little shit hole under Ardern's government. Getting back to 2017 is going to take a lot more than 6 years, I fear.

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  4. Muldoon coined the phrase "when a New Zealander leaves for Australia they double the IQ of both countries."

    He meant of course that the New Zealander was stupid and by moving to Australia (given Aussies were dumber) they raised Australias IQ and NZ's IQ collectively got better.

    Sadly today the same quote applies but it applies the opposite way entirely.

    Ardern created a race war, a class war, a health war, a linguistic war, a socio-educational war....infact there is not one section of NZ she has not instigated a demolition party.

    Where is she today? Gone. Gone but not forgotten and never forgiven. I doubt Ardern will, having also left NZ come back anytime soon to the nation she divided and left bereft of anything that it once was.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Gone Girl.
      She's in an attic in a foreign land, in her pyjamas with no visible husband and no daughter on her knee.
      Yet she preaches to us to accept the detritus of her regime as compensation, for the destruction of our country that we allowed to happen. Most of the country mocked the brave parliament protestors. That was the easy way, that was what she wanted, that is what the spineless gutless cowardly majority found acceptable. They wanted to please a set of dentures . They wanted to see the smile.

      Now, who is laughing ?

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  5. I am sorry that you feel that you are declining your party vote as a form of protest. Sometimes we have to choose between the least of evils.
    As Plato reminds us, “One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
    George

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  6. Note perfect, Karl.
    There's a time for stiff upper lip and practising resilience and a time for calling out a depressing reality.
    We need more of the latter. Not mindless wingeing as the more woke seem to do, but naming problems accurately and tackling them.
    Sadly I agree the exodus likely contains many of the most capable.

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  7. My son lives in Hervey Bay so we visit regularly.

    It highlights for me everything that is now wrong with our country and like other commenters I fear that we will be unable to recapture the vibe of 2017.

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  8. Hi Karl,
    I feel compelled to respond. Your description of NZ society could easily be attributed to Aust, USA, Canada, UK, and western Europe in general. I believe you visited Australia in “holiday mode” and may form a different view if you lived here permanently.

    I grew up in Australia and still live here now and can clearly state Australian society has spiralled downward. We are sadly infected with the same Marxist poison that is damaging the rest of the English speaking world. We have people who lose their careers or even risk prosecution for simply voicing a traditional opinion or a historical fact or simply having a harmless association with a Christian church (eg. The ANZ Bank boss). Our traditional larrikin sense of humour has virtually disappeared. Censorship of news stories is rife because the story mightn’t follow the pre-determined narrative of the left-wing elites. We have crime, we have Marxism, and yes, we ALSO have sinkholes (not only in Auckland). We have a younger generation brought through a school system that shames them for being Australian (colonisers, racism, Invasion Day, etc). We have lies being told about Australian history (inside & outside the education system). We have greenie zealots and a crumbling electricity grid held together by sticky tape (blackouts ARE coming). The electricity grid is approaching crisis point despite repeated warnings whilst radical Labor leaders have their head in the sand pretending intermittent wind/solar is actually a solution. Fools. If we have blackouts during our regular heatwaves, some elderly will die. We have immigration concerns where some don’t integrate. To go to emergency at hospital means hours-long waiting time. You can wait 6 months or more to see a medical specialist. Yet the government is hell-bent on bringing hundreds of thousands of more migrants annually. Housing cannot keep up either. Cost of living is out of control, yet our moronic government is only interested in an aboriginal Voice to Parliament (inserting racial activism into our Constitution even though the aboriginals already have a loud voice far beyond the rest of the population). We have radicals, zealots, Marxists who dominate the political activism scene who drive deeper & deeper divisions into a once-harmonious society. Currently we have unelected people trying to rename cities and landmarks with aboriginal names, even though sooo many place names already have aboriginal names. We have aboriginality being force-fed onto us everywhere. We also have drugged-out derelict zombies walking the streets. Every corporation backs woke ideas. We have aboriginals (or their appointed activists) who want separation, treaty, financial reparations for historical grievances even though they already receive $30-$40 BILLION annually. Endless, endless, endless issues. It is utterly depressing, because……...

    I remember an Australia years ago that was relaxed & confident & beautiful & gently patriotic. Sadly, people have forgotten the Australia of old. Younger generations have never known nor understood true freedom of speech. They prefer cancel culture, identity politics, division. They don’t appreciate their blessings. Same can be said right across western civilisation which gets repeatedly demonised.

    Here in the suburbs, the streets, the community, people are still naturally kind & beautiful, but the agitators in the background with loud voices in the media cannot be ignored.

    I wish NZ & Australia would return to the beautiful days. We must keep fighting.

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  9. It was John Key who in one of National’s campaigns wanted to close the gaps with Australia. We were going to see wage increases and all sorts of wonderful advancements. Nirvana would descend on us all and John Key would gain a Nobel prize. What happened? Nothing.

    In all round terms we mean very little to Australia apart from being another arm of their labour market and a honey pot for banking profits which continue to go Australia’s way.

    Anna Mouse’s comment summarises Labour’s betrayal of everything New Zealand might have stood for.

    As for voting. I won’t take up Karl’s commenting space. My views are in a couple of posts here:

    https://eamonsloan.blogspot.com/

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  10. Sorry, Karl, but your conclusion that not voting is going to make some kind of positive statement is well wide of the mark. If you don't want a bar of the present Government parties, then fine, but to get rid of them you need to cast a vote for an Opposition party.

    That's the stark reality. Personally I am going to vote for the least worst constituency candidate - and then for a party which at least has some good points (and no, I don't mean Winston First.) - ACT.

    Get out there and vote!

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  11. It’s not just New Zealand that is in a perilous decline, but the entire western world. All at the hands of progressive leftist influence largely delivered through education, in particular universities. Evidenced by the abhorrent display of anti-semitism by multiple student groups in the US and UK. You can see this vile indoctrination in individuals whenever certain words are spoken, such as colonialism, racism, bigotry, nazism, transphobia to name a few.

    The western world is screwed, and I have no faith it can come back as it continues to plummet further into its impending black hole of horror.

    I’ve moved to Asia and won’t ever be coming back. What a breath of fresh air it is. No mention of pronouns or other such bollocks. No time given to the screeching of indoctrinated delusional idiots. Journalism that reports the facts not extreme left wing opinions. Good luck to you all, you’ll need. I’ll watch from my mortgage free penthouse where a pack of smokes costs $2 and true capitalism is thriving even under a one party “communist” state.

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  12. `...................... and an almost uncountable number of ex-workmates.'

    Now we know where all of the Politically neutral investigative journalists of days gone by have disappeared to. Unfortunately to the great cost of New Zealand.

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  13. At this stage I can't imagine moving but no question that the economy and health care are light years ahead of NZ. Aussie expats I have spoken to don't seem to think much of the education system there per their state schools.

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  14. Anonymous (I'd prefer to address you by name, but you're too timid to identify yourself):
    First, you should never apologise for expressing a contrary opinion. It sounds phony.
    More to the point, exactly where did I say that not voting was making "some kind of positive statement"? I made no such claim. Not voting is a personal choice that I don't have to justify, explain or defend to anyone.

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  15. I made the point some weeks ago on Peter Creswell's blog, Not PC, about how I didn't think a National-led government would reverse the decline, even in the crude measure of number of bureaucrats, which I had written about in 2021 with There shall be minor changes

    In 2000 we had 28,000 ‘crats for a population of about 3.8 million, one ‘crat for every 136 subjects. In 2020 the ratio is one ‘crat for every 83 subjects of the government.

    So this basically means that National could drop the numbers back to about 36,000. I can imagine the screams and the pain, and that blue section of the graph indicates that it won’t happen.

    Read the comments where my hope is dismissed by a National Party stalwart as "pie in the sky". Former Nat Cabinet Minister Wayne Mapp has said similar things on the same topic on Kiwiblog.

    As I put it further in the comments in response to the "bigger battles to fight":

    if you and National are not prepared to even make the argument against the most basic aspect of an ever growing state, being the number of civil servants employed, then you are going to lose on 3 Waters, the Health Reforms, education and He Puapua, for Labour’s changes to them – all involving greater and more centralised state power – will all be locked in place when next you come to government, defended and supported by that state and those vast numbers of civil servants, whom those things will empower further.

    And when it comes to spending and taxation, you will also have no room to move, something that Luxon has already conceded. There will be no tax cuts in the near future, if anything I would not be surprised to see National increases taxation, for what other choice will they have except more debt.

    I think we're fucked


    I had hoped that Peter would disagree with me, but:

    @Tom: I fear you're right. We are fucked.

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  16. I feel that there is an element of "the grass is greener" in this. From what I read Australia has it’s problems too and for me weather and beaches are unimportant. And if one believes the doomsayers, Australia will become unliveable in a few years because of climate change. I also find it of some comfort that I am not surrounded by venomous insects, reptiles and sea creatures. At least I can go to the lavatory in the middle of the night without fear of being bitten. Yes, I know I exaggerate.

    I suppose it is my advanced age but I do hanker over what I remember as a happy and uncomplicated childhood in London. But then I remember the treatment of women and ethnic minorities and realise that I would not want to go back to that. As the saying goes, "times change and we must change with them (or something like that). We just make ourselves unhappy by imagining the paradise in the other countries and the paradise lost here. And finally, I think you are wrong in your decision not to use the party vote.

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  17. Anonymous @ 10:52

    I'd be interested to know which Asian country permits you to buy property, unless you've become a citizen, or married a local.

    I'm 61, and looking to move away from New Zealand. I'd look at Queensland but the arrangement with Australia means I'd forgo eligibility for NZ superannuation.

    I'm looking at places like Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines. Even Portugal. Set up there, good access to the rest of the world, nice people, Lower cost of living.

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  18. List seats removed accountability making those MP's party sycophants.

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  19. First time commenter - can anyone provide advice re moving to Asia? Am done with this country, the crap weather, outrageous cost of living and being an ATM for an increasing number of people who can't be arsed getting out of bed in the morning.

    We don't have kids, are in our late 50s, and once our remaining parent passes there's nothing keeping us here. Have lived in Europe during two OEs so not keen on that again but defo Asia appeals. Are there any Kiwi expat groups/forums providing advice on best place to settle/buy or rent, etc? Any advice gratefully received.

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  20. Coverage of the Aussie vote is blatantly one sided here and on BBC and media generally ...if you don't agree with it you are a colonial oppressor racist blah blah ...same as here 're race issues . Stuff wheels out Janet Wilson today ...no other views allowed. BBC is writhing in white self loathing ...even in Kenya the horrors of the Mau Mau dismissed although they murdered other Africans wholesale...nope it is all evil white . ...I'm sure moving to Aussie has pros and cons as I know from masses of relatives there ...I do fancy Geraldton or Dongara in WA...handy to wheat belt where many of mine farm . I have citizenship for the UK as we as nz but that will be even more wrecked soon . As for here Joel Maxwell implied they would return with a vengeance in 2026. he is bang on I think .

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  21. Living in Australia is wonderful compared to living in NZ. Yes, I know there are problems here too but let me state the issues that make it so much better. Healthcare is more encompassing with many more treatments and medications available at better prices or free. Education is based on the needs of students and learning rather than on ideology, though some does creep in too. Occupations pay better, including generous superannuation contributions. Housing is not particularly affordable with our daughters struggling to buy but they will be able to buy well built though fairly boring houses in the future. The arts scene is more vibrant and truly diverse, not just focused on a particular group, and our daughters have benefitted from schooling that placed an emphasis on universal participation in music, drama and arts, even in a public school. Probably what we like the most is the incredibly friendly, positive atmosphere here compared to NZ. Despite being portrayed as a racist conservative society, we find it very accepting and tolerant in a laid back way. There is an incredible amount of volunteering and community focus, not least seen in the support given by the community during disasters. We became citizens to confirm our attachment to a society that has enabled us to flourish in ways that we would never have been able to back in NZ.

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  22. Interesting number of people talking about moving to Asia, or those that have and how amazing it is. I spent almost 3 decades working in various Asian countries and have now returned to NZ. During this time I interacted with many retirees that claimed they were living the dream. Many were not, instead living a sad life with alcohol a large part of it. A small group of similar folk, almost all males, as there only real contact.

    Of course there were also others who were truely happy, but they were few and far between.

    As an aside, I was also a rare case in that I left with the same wonderful partner I had arrived with.

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  23. karl,

    I second you 100% in all that you say. We feel totally the same about all of it. We have Aussie citizenship already and have lived there before and was holding out to the election in the hope there might be a change but I think its really likely we will be moving come April when my husband retires. Get up this morning and the first thing is John Tamihere ranting that the electoral commission screwed Maori and something has to be done about it and other inanities on the front pages.

    Was on holiday in Queensland and ran into a younger Maori woman and we got talking about how great things are in Brisbane and eventually she made some comment which in essence said, how freeing it was to be able to just live without any of the bullshit back home.

    I love Australia and their outgoingness and straight forwardness and although it may have changed a bit now, their ability to laugh at themselves and everyone else.

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  24. Congratulations on backing your words with action, Karl - not enough people doing that in these times of woke, hand-wringing milksops. Now that you’re in Australia, can you comment on how much better things are? I’m ready to go but held off until I saw how the new government goes (no prizes for what impact they’ve had haha), keen to get your take on it first-hand.

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  25. I didn't say I'd moved to Australia; merely that the thought was appealing. I'm stuck here with the rest of you.

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