I have observed a theme in media (alluded to in some earlier blog posts I have prepared), both mainstream New Zealand media and other outlets, including international sources and several fairly sophisticated videos at www.youtube.com I keep receiving as suggestions to view (and which appear to command hundreds of thousands of views – someone has spent time preparing these), that New Zealanders are moving in droves to Australia and other similar countries.
The theme and message seems to be, ‘there are no opportunities in New Zealand’, ‘the cost of living in New Zealand is too high’, ‘I can’t buy a house’, ‘New Zealand is broke’,… the complaints go on.
Australia is most commonly cited as the destination for New Zealanders who choose to depart.
With this theme in mind, with some annual leave graciously approved by Simon, I travelled to Melbourne, Australia, to see what the fuss is about. Here are my thoughts.
1. Melbourne is a very large city compared to New Zealand cities
The population is Melbourne is approximately 5.3 million, which is similar to the entire population of New Zealand. Melbourne has a considerably larger population than Auckland (approximately 1.8 million) and it is noticeably busier.
Housing is not cheap in Melbourne. It only takes a quick view of a website such as https://www.realestate.com.au/ to see that prices are just as high as in Auckland, if not even more unaffordable for a New Zealander looking to buy a house because the values are in $AUD. There does not seem to be any difference in Sydney. It is perhaps some more regional areas of Australia where housing is more affordable, but in Australia they equally have what has been called a ‘housing crisis‘ and although we do not hear a lot about that in New Zealand, it is frequently reported on in Australian news media as was clear to see (for example, see here).
I did not really notice much difference at the supermarket checkout. If anything, the pricing was worse because I had to convert my $NZD to $AUD.
To some extent it is true that there is ‘more happening in Melbourne’ at least in part because there are just a lot more people and this can be an attraction for some. However, what comes with that in reality I found was a much firmer public law and order presence. For example, Police cars parked around the CBD in places with words like ‘Public Order Response’ written all over them. Now some people might say that this keeps them feeling safe. However, the need for such a firm law and order presence is also telling. Perhaps when you have so many people concentrated in small areas you cannot afford for anything to go wrong. Melbourne has recently experienced some difficult ‘anti-immigration’ protests, so it’s possible the Police cars present were there to prevent such an event or control it if it occurs. I also observed paramedic/ambulance vehicles parked around the CBD. I suppose they are there to help people if there is a problem.
Melbourne is a 3.5 – 4 hour flight from Auckland, but in reality it takes a full day to get there after allowing time at each end for the necessary processes. The climate was similar to Auckland, perhaps a bit cooler. I visited St Kilda Beach but the weather wasn’t fit for swimming. There were warning signs up that also suggested swimming was unsafe. It was not like the many quiet beaches we have around Auckland where it is usually safe to swim.
My own honest feeling, after visiting Melbourne, is to say that yes it is a nice place, but the problems they have there are similar to what we have in Auckland/New Zealand generally. It is not possible to escape a perceived high cost of living in Auckland/New Zealand, by moving to a city that has an equally high cost of living.
2. The frequent negativity about New Zealand is unfair
Therefore, what I want to say is that the frequent negativity about New Zealand in news media is in my view unfair. The negative reports tend to be a self-reinforcing/influencing cycle in themselves.
From what I can see, the current Government understands the problem in New Zealand around housing affordability and there is some recognition in places that there is progress around this (for example, see here and here), whereas in Australia they haven’t even started (in the ‘too hard’ basket). See an article here, which describes Australia looking to Auckland for ways to deal with housing affordability.
At the end of the day, the choice between New Zealand or Australia might be in terms of ‘what you are looking for’. As stated, Auckland is noticeably quieter compared to Melbourne. For a lot of people, that is what they prefer. The ‘bright lights’ of large cities might be more of an attraction to younger people, so that might provide some explanation. Perhaps as people age their priorities change.
Our experience is that New Zealand remains an attractive destination for many people, with so much going on in the world right now. It is safe, secure, and away from the world’s trouble zones. In our experience migrants to New Zealand understand this. But the ‘bad news’ about New Zealand doesn’t help.
New Zealand and Australia have much in common, culturally, socially and economically. But if your choice about migrating is between New Zealand and Australia, we say choose New Zealand.