In the news section of the Weekend Herald there was an interesting perspective on the NZ/Australia migration debate. (strangely not on-line)  An Australian economist named Tim Brook moved here from Melbourne earlier in the year.   His response when asked “why would you come here from Australia”?

The trouble said Mr Brook was that the difference was all in our heads. ” The standard of living day to day is almost exactly the same”, he said. ” Housing, food, amenities are no different at all. Wages are roughly the same, for the type of job I do they are probably identical.”

Interesting, and counter to a lot of rhetoric we hear about, as a piece in the careers section said, ” the land of milk and honey, and cheese”.  The simplistic analysis we are often given about wage rates (where there is indeed a gap) leaves out state taxes, superannuation payments, stamp duty on house sales and more.

Brook goes onto say in the article

People see something saying wages are 30 per cent more in Australia and don’t factor in the cost living, the tax rate or the exchange rate. He said Australia’s wage growth was largely driven by the mining industry a sector that was typically the domain of young single men who were prapred to put up with harsh conditions.

 The piece in the careers section offers a more familiar story of people who have gone the other way, including Damien Bateman, an IT ‘expert’ who was sick of living in Christchurch (well, who wouldn’t be), in particular

It is overrun with boy racers and New Zealand- as nice as it is- is still a backwater country”, says Bateman. ” It is just not a world player where things happen”.

He goes on

There is just so much more to do over here. And I am certainly trying to get out there and enjoy it. Coming here forces you to expand your horizons.”

And therein lies the rub. We know that in a country the size of Australia, with its natural advantages there will always be incentives for people to make the move from New Zealand. Just as Ireland and Canada are smaller countries beside larger ones this will be an issue. At one level we should not be scared of it, because it is a good thing to expand your horizons (particularly if you are from Christchurch so long as some of the diaspora come back.

The challenge for New Zealand is to continue to push our advantages- a more relaxed lifestyle, easily accessible recreation, a home for leading edge thinking and creativity. Also, of course, we need to drive wages up.  This is all about improving productivity, which in turn requires an investment in research, development, skills training and infrastrucure.

One thing that I do hear from those of my generation is that above all New Zealand remains a good place to bring up children.  People of my generation who are just beginning their families, want to be in New Zealand, and that is truly an advantage.