There’s no place like – er, Australia – for offshore Kiwis

6 May 2011

Media release
Kea New Zealand

For immediate publication

There’s no place like – er, Australia – for offshore Kiwis

New Zealand has a hot rival as a destination for Kiwis retuning from their OE: Australia.

That’s the picture emerging from the Every Kiwi Counts global census of overseas-based New Zealanders (www.everykiwicounts.com) currently being conducted by Kea New Zealand, our country’s largest global network.

Of more than 8,500 offshore Kiwis who have completed the Every Kiwi Counts survey so far, almost half (47%) say they are likely to return to New Zealand to live. But considerably more than half (56%) also say they are considering Australia as an alternative “home” instead of New Zealand.

Yet on other dimensions, the survey “shows the deep attachment even the most successful New Zealanders overseas retain for their country,” says Kea New Zealand’s Global Chief Executive, Dr Sue Watson.

“For example, fully half of the Kiwis in the survey (51%) travel to New Zealand at least once a year. Among the 8,500 who have answered so far, the vast majority maintains economic ties with New Zealand, and several hundred have told us they want deeper connections in areas like investing or finding work in New Zealand.

“Just as importantly, more than one in five say they are in a position to build business connections from offshore for New Zealand companies,” Dr Watson says.

On the choice of where to live, Australia’s attraction for offshore Kiwis remains high even when Kiwis already living in Australia are excluded from the figures. Among Kiwis living offshore in countries other than Australia, 43% say they are either “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to “consider Australia as a ‘home’ country to settle in permanently”.

Says Paul Callister, an immigration and demographics specialist at the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University: “Many New Zealanders want to come home, but our idea of ‘home’ has expanded in recent years. When thinking of good jobs, nice beaches and being close to friends and relatives, increasingly Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne may come to mind.”

Already over 400,000 New Zealanders live in Australia, including one in six Maori, Paul Callister says. Most respondents to the Kea survey are New Zealand citizens and have the legal right to live and work in Australia.

The sample in the Every Kiwi Counts survey includes many of New Zealand’s best and brightest, Kea New Zealand notes. For example, more than three-quarters (78%) of those answering the survey so far have tertiary degrees – with about 25% of those being earned overseas.

The online survey is live now at www.everykiwicounts.com.

All New Zealanders based offshore are eligible to complete the survey, and everyone – including those based in New Zealand – who refers an offshore friend or relative to the site is eligible to win prizes from Air New Zealand, the All Blacks and others.

ENDS

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