Amy Adams - Finance

21 August 2018

The latest migration figures show Kiwis are voting with their feet with more people leaving for Australia in the past year than arrived in the previous three, says National Finance spokeswomen Amy Adams says.

“So far in 2018 there has been a net outflow of more than 2,300 people to Australia, which more than unwinds the net inflow of 1,600 people achieved in the last term of the previous National Government.

“When National came into office in 2008 there were more than 30,000 people leaving for Australia every year. We worked hard to turn this around by closing the after-tax wage gap by $50 a week and achieving six years of consecutively superior GDP per capita growth.

“A pretty simple measure of a country’s attractiveness is how many people choose to live and work there. Unfortunately it seems the tide is now turning.

“It shows how quickly bad economic policies and uncertainty can undo years of hard work. People go where they have the best opportunity to get ahead. Clearly, more people now see that those opportunities lie in Australia not New Zealand.

“And what is worse, the most agile and free to move are often the best and brightest.

“The Government should be concerned that more people are now packing their bags and heading over the Tasman. We need to continue to try to close the wage gap with Australia. Unfortunately nothing this Government is doing is aimed at growing the pie.

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