As NZ heads into an election year, it\u2019s worth examining the issue through the eyes of those choosing to leave.<\/p>\n
Promise of financial acceleration<\/p>\n
Every single one of the 10 Kiwis interviewed for this story cited higher salaries as a motivation for moving.<\/p>\n
Kelly McAree, 38, said that when she worked full time as a caf\u00e9 manager in Auckland she was constantly in overdraft. A move to Melbourne has offered her financial security.<\/p>\n
Working the same job in Melbourne, she could now afford a pet dog, whereas previously she was struggling to cover just her own needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hustle culture here is energising as opposed to NZ where it\u2019s kind of miserable,\u201d McAree says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the gap between housing costs and stagnant wages back home versus the earning potential here, Australia is the financially responsible answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sydney Opera House and waterfront on a spellbinding day. Photo \/ Destination NSW<\/p>\n
Opportunities to save and buy a home one day are driving trans-Tasman movement.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the case for Aaliyah Fountain, who grew up in Kerikeri, and is now based in Perth and working as a FIFO Utility Attendant in the mines.<\/p>\n
She works a two-week on, one-week off roster, with her site being roughly 850 kilometres away, about an hour and 45-minute flight north of Perth.<\/p>\n
Site life is simple. Fountain works long shifts in up to 45C heat in the summer, and is surrounded by red dirt, trees and cows roaming around. There is also a gym and a swimming pool to cool off in on breaks.<\/p>\n
The crew working on-site are extremely close and have become a second family to Fountain.<\/p>\n
Aaliyah Fountain has traded life in the Bay of Islands for the lucrative benefits of FIFO mining work in Perth.<\/p>\n
Despite the demands of the work and the brutal heat, she sees the benefit of the potential for financial acceleration as outweighing any of the downsides to the lifestyle.<\/p>\n
Accommodation and meals are covered on-site which makes it easy to save if you are disciplined, and she now feels she has the chance to buy a house while still young, which felt out of reach back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do remember getting my first pay cheque and genuinely thinking it must have been a mistake,\u201d Fountain says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had never seen that kind of money before at my age.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are also long blocks of time off. Fountain plans to fly to Bali next week and then use annual leave to spend a month travelling in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
In Melbourne\u2019s oldest, bohemian suburb of Fitzroy, 41-year-old Kiwi Daniel Biddle finds life in the city is an introvert\u2019s heaven. It\u2019s easy to be anonymous, and there\u2019s the sense that you can be alone without feeling lonely.<\/p>\n
\u201cKiwis, especially M\u0101ori and Pacific Islanders, have seen our wh\u0101nau move from Aotearoa to Australia for generations, and we\u2019ve seen their successes,\u201d Biddle says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see their big houses, nice cars, and latest iPhones, and we want a piece of that. We see the money they bring to NZ on their visits home, it\u2019s hot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up in Wairoa, Biddle now works in a perfumery in Melbourne and says the initial cost of living there did come as a shock. Local kai and social offerings reflect the boujie-ness of the postcode you are in, he says, and it makes it easy to spend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI advise all my wh\u0101nau looking to move over to arrive with a minimum of $10k\u2013$15k in accessible savings, and even more if they have a partner or dependents …”<\/p>\n
Taranaki-raised Chad Kahui with his 3-year-old daughter Pippa and 4-year-old son Luca who were both born in Australia.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Taranaki, Chad Kahui [Ng\u0101ruahine, Ng\u0101ti Ruanui], aged 31, now works in scaffolding in Brisbane, Queensland as an operational supervisor.<\/p>\n
Kahui was just 20 when he moved across the ditch with his partner and now-wife after feeling like he was stuck in a cycle where he wasn\u2019t progressing.<\/p>\n
He now has two toddlers born in Australia and the family has just purchased their first home.<\/p>\n
When the couple first moved and got a rental property, despite both working fulltime, they were lucky to be left with $20 for food after covering all of their expenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not all rainbows and butterflies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Living off the bare minimum for six months was tough, but their situation began to improve, and Kahui says for this reason the move is not for those who lack determination and aren\u2019t prepared for the hard grind initially.<\/p>\n
Youngsun An, aged 28, works as a software engineer in Sydney after studying at the University of Auckland.<\/p>\n
As An sees it, NZ doesn\u2019t hold as many opportunities for a young, ambitious professional.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s biggest sectors are farming and tourism, he says, and if you\u2019re not in those industries it often doesn\u2019t make much economic sense to stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get paid more. The weather is better. There\u2019s next to no friction when moving to Australia,\u201d An says.<\/p>\n
How serious is the brain drain?<\/p>\n
Stats NZ data shows the estimated net migration loss for the year 2025 was 28,800 people. This was down from the year ended June 2024 when the net migration loss was 32,100 people.<\/p>\n
When the brain drain was consuming headlines last year, the estimated net migration loss of 30,800 people in 2024 was still sitting below the record loss of 43,700 Kiwis in the March 2012 year.<\/p>\n
Auckland University migration professor Francis Collins has extensively studied international migration for the past two decades and says the concept of a brain drain to Australia does deserve attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a beat-up. Cumulatively, you\u2019re looking at the equivalent of 800,000 odd citizens who have left New Zealand for various countries, mainly Australia, over the last four decades. That\u2019s enormous,\u201d Collins says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn important point is some of those people will be skilled and fit into the term of a brain drain but I think there\u2019s a whole range of people who leave NZ and a whole variety of different occupations. Whether it\u2019s a doctor or a truck driver, you can hop on a plane to Australia and start working tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Biddle lives in Fitzroy, Melbourne and says the area is “filled with great Kiwis”.<\/p>\n
He says high levels of immigration to Australia for young people is likely being driven by perceptions about limited opportunities to get ahead in NZ, which could include comparatively high house prices and low wages or a lack of available jobs in the private and public sector for graduates.<\/p>\n
Figures for the December 2025 quarter showed NZ\u2019s unemployment rate was 5.4% \u2013 a 10-year high \u2013 whereas the Australian unemployment rate was 4.2% in November 2025. <\/p>\n
Collins says social networks and connections to friends or family are often overlooked when it comes to discussing reasons for migration, but for many people a huge driver of movement is knowing someone in the place they are shifting to.<\/p>\n
Sydney-based Youngsun An\u2019s experience illustrates this trend, as his younger sister Yerin An also leapt across the ditch into a job as an engineer after finishing up her study at the University of Auckland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were more career opportunities aligned to the sort of work I was interested in. The significant increase in pay also helped,\u201d An says, as her reasons for moving.<\/p>\n
Yerin An is settling into Melbourne life well but says she misses New Zealand’s nature.<\/p>\n
Collins says in the last 10-15 years government policy around immigration has shifted towards encouraging large numbers of people to enter the country on work visas, which means the net migration loss from citizens leaving to Australia is often being replaced with people who have fewer rights than citizens.<\/p>\n
Homesickness and heartache for Kiwis<\/p>\n
A move to Australia is often sold as a romantic hop over the ditch to blistering heatwaves and golden beaches that stretch out for miles, but parts of Aussie culture can jar with Kiwis and leave them missing home.<\/p>\n
In Melbourne, 25-year-old Georgia Stephen who is in the middle of her PhD with the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, says she always thought of Australia as being just a bigger version of NZ, but it can feel quite different to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised at how much further behind Australia is with its political landscape and how much more marginalised their indigenous communities are, despite being an older country than we are,\u201d Stephen says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Australia is even more racist and segregated than New Zealand, which was something I didn\u2019t have much awareness of before moving, and [it] really disheartens me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Brisbane, Kahui misses being directly surrounded and immersed in tikanga M\u0101ori and says that reality makes the distance of Australia from NZ tough. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many things I do miss about home. The main thing is being involved with our culture and marae and the iwi, which is a massive thing,\u201d Kahui says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s how I\u2019d love my children to be raised, but man we\u2019ve honestly created a great lifestyle over here. We implement a lot of our culture through our life at home, and we\u2019re not letting go of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she loves Brisbane, Kiwi Annabel Fleming is set on moving home to Aotearoa in the future.<\/p>\n
For Brisbane-based Kiwi Annabel Fleming, aged 25, not having to go through a visa process and being granted residency on arrival made the move seamless, but finding a place to live was a struggle when she initially landed in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first got to Melbourne, we spent weeks going to multiple flat viewings a day that often had 100-plus other attendees all hoping to pay $600 AUD ($712) a week for a shoebox,\u201d Fleming says.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinding a job without any connections or experience wasn\u2019t a piece of cake either. That first year in particular was high highs and low lows.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seductive pull of the Aussie lifestyle<\/p>\n
Beaches, pub culture and active living are part of the glamorous package being peddled out on Instagram to Kiwis about the lifestyle Australia offers young professionals.<\/p>\n
Young people in New Zealand can crave the energy, vibrance and crowds of larger cities. Photo \/ Jay Wennington.<\/p>\n
For Kian Knight, a 25-year-old procurement consultant, life in Brisbane, Queensland offers easy to access good running routes, social spots, and quality pubs and restaurants, many within walking distance.<\/p>\n
Previously, Knight was living in Wellington but says he\u2019s been enjoying the brighter mornings and warmer climate, which make it easier to stay active and stick to a routine year-round.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot the biggest fan of alcohol prices, however, but it\u2019s a fair trade off,\u201d Knight says.<\/p>\n
Kahui says he\u2019s observed a lot of the Kiwis who end up in Australia are goal-driven and it shows in a heavy focus on earning and exercising.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver here for instance, 5.30am in the morning I\u2019m down at the foreshore going for a run and it is chocka,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many people out there rising early and getting amongst it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auckland-raised Hannah Lu moved to Melbourne straight after leaving high school to study Communication Design at RMIT University, with the goal of securing a graduate job in the creative industry.<\/p>\n
She felt it would be easier in a place like Melbourne that prides itself on its incredible culture, with its thriving live music scene and hosting of major sporting events like the Australian Open.<\/p>\n
Aaliyah Fountain experiencing a stunning Perth sunset at her FIFO site.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d describe my life here as fast-paced – there\u2019s always friends to see and events to go to,\u201d Lu says.<\/p>\n
Lu was initially surprised by how often she was surrounded by international people and Kiwis who had emigrated to Melbourne rather than having grown up in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also feel like I\u2019ve become more open minded and expanded my perspective, having met so many people who come from different backgrounds,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always liked the idea of moving back to NZ when I eventually settle down, but I think it will ultimately depend on my circumstances – whether I\u2019m able to secure a good job, and whether it feels realistic given the housing market and cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiwis not coming home from Australia<\/p>\n
A few years ago, Professor Collins conducted a research project which involved interviewing a selection of about 60 NZ citizens from a range of backgrounds and ages living in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost people didn\u2019t think they were coming back, that was a key reflection of the study,\u201d Collins says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sense that it\u2019s difficult to return is probably an important finding that\u2019s reflected in the patterns of net migration statistics. Over time, more and more people have gone and only a small proportion have returned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kahui says despite his homesickness at certain times, the financial calculations of moving back home don\u2019t stack up for him.<\/p>\n
Surfers at Conto Spring Beach. Many Kiwis are chasing an active, romanticised Australian lifestyle. Photo \/ Tourism Western Australia<\/p>\n
A trip home in the middle of last year served as a reminder when Kahui visited a NZ supermarket and says he was shocked at the prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was ridiculous. I honestly see why young people are moving abroad,\u201d Kahui says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I never had to work, I\u2019d definitely live back home … but at this stage of our lives and with what I want to provide for my family, I won\u2019t be moving home.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for some, Australia has lost its shine.<\/p>\n
After living and loving his time in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Biddle says he plans to return to Hawke\u2019s Bay soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia has the hustle that good ol\u2019 Wairoa doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s why I moved here. But my circumstances have changed, I\u2019m not keen to hustle any more, I\u2019m looking for the quieter pace that Wairoa offers in buckets.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Queensland, Fleming says she is firmly set on moving home one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother benefit of moving away from NZ is that it has given me a deeper appreciation for how fortunate we are in Aotearoa to belong to such a remarkable place.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when I return home one day you won\u2019t catch me taking it for granted,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n