Opinion: The one solution to stop more Kiwis moving to Australia - Heather du Plessis-Allan

Many Kiwis searching for higher pay are finding that the grass is greener across the Tasman. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

NSW is coming for our police.

They’re 1500 officers short and they’re worried, so the Chris Minns Government has announced they’ll fix it by fast-tracking Kiwi cops into their force.

The Aussies poaching our cops is not new. Queensland and the Northern Territory have been doing it unashamedly for more than a year.

But NSW’s targeting comes at a sensitive time for one reason: pay.

Our police are grumpy about their pay. They’ve been in a drawn-out battle over pay increases stretching back to the last Government. They consider the coalition Government’s offer even more insulting than Labour’s. And so the pay talks have broken down to the point that an independent arbitrator will now pick which side’s pay deal is best.

A number of officers are apparently waiting to see the outcome before they decide if they’re moving to Australia.

Meanwhile, the pay in NSW is an attraction. A copper starts on AU$80,000 ($87,000) compared to $67,000 here.

And it’s not just our cops moving to Oz.

In the past year, a net 52,500 Kiwis headed offshore, mostly across the Ditch. That’s a record.

They’re not workers we can afford to lose. They are skilled workers, our best and brightest.

There is a greater chance now that they don’t come back, especially from Australia, because the lucky country these days again allows migrating Kiwis to qualify for citizenship and all the perks that come with it.

Which is to say, we have a serious brain drain underway. And yet we don’t seem too worried about it. Certainly, not nearly as much as we collectively were about the brain drain in the mid oughts which whipped up so much concern that John Key used it as a plank in his 2008 campaign.

Perhaps the reason we’re not stressing is because we don’t begrudge our fellow Kiwis leaving. The mood in NZ is gloomy. Politicians on both sides are angry. Everything is broken, from the education system to the justice system.

But more importantly, life is hard. Money is tight. It’s been tight for a while and it will be tight for probably another 12 months. Rents are expensive. Houses are too. Groceries and power bills and daycare cost too much.

Who can begrudge Kiwis heading off in search of higher pay and a better life?

Which brings us to the only thing we can do about this: close the pay gap with Australia. At last count, Australians are earning 32 per cent more than Kiwis. They’re on an average income of $102,500 compared to our $78,000.

Forget the nonsense that our biggest attraction is our lifestyle. It’s not. Aussie’s lifestyle, weather and opportunities are better than ours, and money buys a good lifestyle.

How to close the gap is not a puzzle. We know what to do. The 2025 Taskforce wrote a report on it more than a decade ago. It recommended, slashing government spending, cutting taxes, reducing beneficiary numbers, raising the pension age, selling state-owned assets and vigorously encouraging foreign investment.

All of which are logical. Many of which will make many Kiwis uncomfortable.

But we have to do it. We have to cut the fluffy feel-good nonsense we’ve been distracted by. Labour’s Wellbeing Budgets made us poorer. The Reserve Bank identifying as a tree hasn’t made them any good at fighting inflation. Hiring public servants en masse hasn’t improved our services.

We need to focus all of our attention on supercharging economic growth and make some tough calls.

In the end, pay is the difference between smart Kiwis staying or leaving. It’s the only thing we can really lift to compete with Australia. Just ask the Kiwi cops thinking about taking up NSW’s offer.