The number of Kiwis migrating to Australia has nearly tripled in one year, while the number of those returning home has jumped by 46 per cent, new figures show. Reporter Carmen Hall talks to New Zealanders who have come back and some who are contemplating the move.
It was the lure of whānau living in Queensland that pulled at Harata Makiha’s heartstrings and prompted a move to Coomera on the Gold Coast in 2010. Her husband Harry Hunu followed a month later and signalled the beginning of a 13-year stint across the ditch.
That adventure ended earlier this year when the Rotorua couple, who weren’t Australian citizens, needed to access better health services after Hunu suffered a stroke. They have settled into a unit at Maketū, but talk fondly of their time spent in Australia, which was made much easier with their family connections.
“Everyone said you had to go over with heaps of money, but because my son was there, we were able to slip into the system quite well and get a place. My father-in-law gave us a vehicle to use and I got a job in a warehouse.”
She said a lot of things were cheaper and you could get “more bang for your buck”. However, it took a long time to get used to the heat and the kai didn’t taste the same.
Makiha said it was lovely creating memories with their mokopuna, who had already visited, but there was “no place like home”.
Charles Hurihanganui was on a six-figure salary when he drove trucks for 35 hours a week in Brisbane. The father-of-six left Rotorua in 2013, and his first job was in the mines in Western Australia.
Hurihanganui and his wife always planned to spend the last 10 years of their working lives in Australia “to finish on a high note”.
Hurihanganui moved back permanently to Maketū to care for two of their mokopuna. His wife remains in Australia working at a hospital in Brisbane, but travels home regularly to spend time with Hurihanganui and their mokopuna.
Hurihanganui said his time across the Tasman was “incredible”, and made more enjoyable because some of his children were there.
“I grew up in the era where the Aussies used to beat the All Blacks all the time, so I hated Aussies and never thought I’d go there. Then I went there and started meeting people, and I really loved the Australians - they were great.
“They really tried to pronounce my last name and could say it better than some Kiwis, and the weather was awesome.”
The couple own a unit in Brisbane overlooking the city, and “we’d have to pinch ourselves and think, ‘Who would have thought?”
Hurihanganui said people were happier in Australia because they had jobs and money and knew how to have a good time.
However, his manawa [heart] was in the Bay of Plenty, and Brisbane was only a plane ride away.
Kylie Tutauha lives in Australia but hopes tomake the most of what both countries have to offer by splitting her time between the two countries. She wants her kids to attend high school in New Zealand and has a five-year plan to achieve this.
The couple run a telecommunication business in Australia and have stepped into civil excavation, using hydro vacuum services. They have just finished setting up a New Zealand-based company, All Vac Solutions, and are getting the equipment sorted.
“We have dual citizenship and plan to be tax residences for both sides ... hubby will float between both countries - it’s all goals at the moment and might not happen, but it’s something we are actively working towards.”
“We are going to make a real good go of it.”
Tutauha, who lives in Queensland, believed the education system in New Zealand was better than Australia’s, and she also wanted her children to spend some time in their own culture, which was “rich and fulfilling”.
They left Wellington in 2011 and would like to return to that city or Wairarapa.
Glen Mathews returned to Tauranga after 18 years across the Tasman, primarily working in mines, which meant he was “reasonably set up now”.
“That’s from making good real estate choices [buying low, selling at peak]. Aussie definitely has some good opportunities, but you still have to work hard to get them.
“The grass is not that much greener over there than it used to be.”
Mathews said he yearned to be near his family and was now a chef.
“I have little nieces and a nephew here that I want to spend time with and see grow up. My parents are getting older, so it will be nice to spend more time with them.”
Howard Lee’s income last year in Australia was $200,000, but he was homesick and plans to return to Auckland in the future.
”I live in Aussie to earn money so I can move to NZ mortgage-free.”
In Lee’s opinion, New Zealand performed better than Australia when it came to schooling and building houses, but was behind in business opportunities, technology and solar power. Heat pumps, hot water, home batteries, cars and electrical goods were cheaper.
A keen skier, Lee said a house in the South Island was also on his wishlist. The dentist moved to Australia in 2013 from Canterbury.
John and Lorraine Wratt moved to Australia in 2001 from Hastings. John said the opportunities in Australia were immense and he spent 15 of his 38 years in banking working in Sydney. He said the Australians welcomed his family and wife and they made friends with a lot of people from different cultures.
“We were regarded as great workers. We took on and loved the Aussie laid-back humour and found the multi-cultural workplaces interesting,” John said.
“We found that the Australian superannuation fund system [was] fantastic and greatly helped us in setting ourselves up to retirement.”
Back in Papamoa, Wratt said they have found a “quieter life and love our gardening, but are really disappointed in the direction this country is going”.
In his view, there was division in New Zealand: ”We should be celebrating our individual uniqueness and being ‘one people’ … New Zealanders/Kiwis.”
Stats NZ and the Australian Bureau of Statistics show in the year to March 2023, there was a net migration loss of 17,400 to Australia, nearly triple the loss of 5900 in March 2022.
Estimated migrant arrivals from Australia to New Zealand - including Kiwis - in the year to March 31, 2023, were 21,000, compared to 17,000 in the year to March 31, 2022, and 16,600 the previous year to March.
Stats NZ senior insights analyst Kim Dunstan said factors like immigration policies, relative economic and labour market decisions, costs of moving, relative costs of living and the existence of family and social networks affect people’s decisions to move from one country to another.
Correction & clarification: This article has been updated to correct the figure in relation to Howard Lee’s income. It has also been updated and clarified with new figures that show March 31 annual migration figures that include New Zealand citizens.
Carmen Hall is a news director for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, covering business and general news. She has been a Voyager Media Awards winner and a journalist for 25 years.
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