New Zealanders are leaving the country in record numbers, mainly to Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-22/kiwi-exodus-record-number-leave-new-zealand/106037238
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-22/kiwi-exodus-record-number-leave-new-zealand/106037238
45 Comments
Sunshine@lemmy.ca · 97 pts · 259d
That’s what happens when morons vote in fascists.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 259d
also the HCOL in Nz apparently.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -19 pts · 259d
It's almost entirely the cost of living VS income, very little to do with politics.
I don't know how to describe how stupid leaving NZ for Australia because of politics would be.
Aussieiuszko@aussie.zone · 44 pts · 259d
Uhh. NZ has a right wing government that is attacking trans people and Maori.
Australia is run by a center party, that on the whole is making social strides for the positive.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 259d
For now, sure. They change PMs like they change underwear over there.
And they treat their indigenous people very poorly.
Aussieiuszko@aussie.zone · 20 pts · 259d
We don’t vote for PMs we vote for parties. And they change as frequently as in NZ.
And my state recently signed an important treaty, meanwhile NZ is trying to alter its treaties and reneg on obligations.
One is actively working to improve the lives of their indigenous, the other is trying to make it worse.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com · 15 pts · 259d
And the current government are trying to do something about that
NZ had always rested on its laurels about being a good society
That is changing. Too many stupid, hateful cunts were happy to vote for Luxon
I have whanau who voted for him, and I would be happy to never see them ever again
devolution@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 258d
Seems like NZ had a Obama reaction. Elect a competant woman who makes things better, you get a backlash and Elect a fascist.
God humanity doesn't learn.
tuff_wizard@aussie.zone · -1 pts · 258d
Are the social strides in the room with us now?
Albanese only looks passable because he’s standing next to the likes of abbot, Morrison and Turnbull
KaChilde@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 259d
Are you implying that the economy is not a political issue? Who do you think makes the economic policy in NZ?
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org · 80 pts · 259d
A businessman-cum-conservative leads the country since 2023, in coalition with far-right populists.
After two terms of Labour government.
Pretty much the same happened in my country, and yes, the effects are palpable, esp. if you work in the public or social sector.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 103 pts · 259d
Yeah, it must be quite jarring to go from this badass
to Kiwi Trump in just a couple years!
Lon3star@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 259d
Similar to the US going from Obama to Trump in 2016. Left got complacent, while the right stoked fear with lies and propaganda.
3abas@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 259d
Obama was not a badass, he was a charismatic young illegal drone striking war criminal who reversed course on several key campaign promises.
He wasn't Trump, but he wasn't a leftist workers hero, you deserve and should demand better than Democrats.
handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip · 30 pts · 259d
Everyone wants to remember the hope and change, no one wants to remember the extrajudicial killing of Americans.
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net · 23 pts · 259d
Also, there was a lot more hope than change.
Ultimately, Obama did a perfect job executing neoliberalism. And by demonstrating the outcomes of neoliberalism when perfectly executed, I think he also executed neoliberalism in the other meaning.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 259d
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 259d
Exactly. When he took the stage to a cheering crowd after his win, I KNEW he would just be one more weak, useless Democratic placeholder, just there to give the PedoCons enough time for bad memories of the last disastrous Republican administration to fade, so they can manipulate their way back into office, and continue their destruction.
QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 259d
Did he ever claim to be a leftist?
salacious_coaster@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 259d
Besides you guys, nobody even knows what that means. When you drag "liberals" on Lemmy and Reddit, most people just think you're a trump supporter.
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 32 pts · 259d
That fear mongering and manipulation did not only come from internal right wing forces but has been a coordinated effort through social media influence by adversaries. It’s still happening and it’s happening all over the world apart from the couple of countries it’s originating from.
No1@aussie.zone · 49 pts · 258d
In the 1970s, when the NZ Prime Minister Robert Muldoon was asked about the high numbers of New Zealanders leaving for Australia he replied:
"It raises the IQ of both countries".
Just brilliant!
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 258d
He stole that from a comedian BTW, it wasn't his joke. Still funny though.
pix_wbmr@feddit.org · 40 pts · 259d
I'd love to move to NZ but your immigration laws are insane...
I'm austrian and it's basically impossible to move to NZ for me
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 259d
I promise you you wouldn't like living there as much as you think. I agree our immigration laws are really shitty though, and you should be allowed to come find out for yourself what a crappy country we are.
Bloefz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 259d
When I was in NZ it was a fabulous country with really friendly people. Even the cops.
But this was 20 years ago. Though it sounds like it was a great place under Jacinta too.
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 259d
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of wonderful things about it, but living there is much worse than visiting. It is very normal to have mould all through your house and have to wear your coat indoors in the winter because you can't afford to heat and the house has no insulation, we have staggeringly high levels of poverty for a "developed" country. Yes, people are friendly, the nature is some of the best in the world, and the lifestyle is relaxed. But the disparity between incomes and cost of living means most normal people are really quite struggling to make ends meet, the health system is a shell of its former self, and things are just overall getting worse quite rapidly. I know that's not unique, most of the Anglosphere has basically the same issues, but we already started at the lower-income end of that group.
Bloefz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 259d
I understand. I wasn't aware of that. I don't think those problems were around when I was there, or at least not as severely. And yes the nature is amazing. I'd go there on holiday all the time if it wasn't 24 hours actual flight time 😭
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 258d
Ignore the doomer. There are some ratty old houses around, but there are also plenty of places that are modern and well insulated. We've had something of a building boom over the last few years, driven in large part due to changes in zoning rules, so a huge number of town houses and apartments have been built. It's also possible to retrofit insulation to an extent, which we've done in our house. We now have underfloor and ceiling insulation, as well as double glazed windows.
A lot of rentals have been retrofitted wherever possible, as there are now minimum standards for rental properties.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 258d
There's a lot of things the Ardern government failed on. Cost of living, cost of housing, both to rent and to buy, child poverty, they all got measurably worse under her government.
She's viewed far more favourably than she deserves to be, especially internationally where their failures didn't make the news.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 258d
I mean, I think that's the exact same thing that's happened to every single English speaking country over the past 5-10 years (probably others but I'm only semi-familiar with English speaking ones.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 257d
You may be right, but it was one of their key election policies, and they utterly failed to deliver on it.
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 9 pts · 259d
You already have austriankiwi at home. No need to emigrate.
carrylex@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 259d
Here are some raw official statistics: https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/international-migration-july-2025/
After having a look at the graphs: The data looks pretty normal and is within the previously observed boundaries.
On a side note:
baseball2020@aussie.zone · 31 pts · 259d
A local economics podcast gave me an interesting point, which was that post covid Australia had one of the better unemployment rates, and it 100% came down to government funding jobs in the care sector. Now I do understand some of those aged/disability care programs got ripped off (like NDIS), but the guests claimed that countries relying on private sector jobs to bounce back basically have worse numbers. Food for thought in the role of government intervention in markets
pulsewidth@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 259d
The NDIS scam claims are far overstated from what I understand speaking to people in the system.
The biggest scam recently was the payouts to businesses during Covid. Just to scratch the surface for example we paid $13bil to businesses that increased their profits during 2020-21 covid crisis, under the guise of Jobkeeper. I know many businesses that took payment despite knowing they had not had 30% downturn, because there were no clawback methods in the legislation. Free money from the taxpayer.
tornavish@lemmy.cafe · 18 pts · 259d
Hey USA, this is the time. Not next year, right. This. Minute.
radiofreebc@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 258d
NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io · 1 pts · 259d
I gladly welcome New Zealand into the third world.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -11 pts · 259d
Something to remember when reading these headlines, is that Australia is a ridiculously wealthy country, in large part due to mineral wealth, and anyone in NZ can just go there and get a job.
It has almost nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with making more money.
Zombie@feddit.uk · 20 pts · 259d
If that's the case why is it record numbers now?
Australia has had mineral wealth for a very long time, that's nothing new.
kiwifoxtrot@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 259d
New Zealand has had a constant outflow of people to other countries that ebbs and flows for at least 40 years. I left during a previous surge. Home prices are too high, wages are too low, and better opportunities can be found abroad. When other economies start slowing down, a lot of people return to NZ.
Zombie@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 259d
That's fair, but that's due to politics.
Wealth and quality of life are hugely dependent upon the politics of a place.
Which form of politics is correct is a debate that has existed since forever, but there's no getting away from the fact that politics determines wealth, quality of life, and ultimately whether people wish to immigrate, emigrate, or stay put.
Well, that and the weather 😝
kiwifoxtrot@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 258d
It really isn't politics. New Zealand is very isolated from other countries, so the price of imported goods are high. It is also a small nation that is primarily farms, so there isn't much room for development and home prices are high. It has a small steel industry but otherwise there isn't a lot of manufacturing unless it is related to dairy.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 258d
Because the NZ economy is particularly bad right now, and our housing market is effed.
michaelalf@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 258d
"our housing market is effed" I have some bad news for kiwis coming over here...
SirActionSack@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 258d
Many Kiwis came home from other countries during COVID and this bump in people leaving is partly just returning to normal.