A net outflow of 33,000 Kiwis to Australia was recorded in the year ending August, a 19 year high, according to Statistics New Zealand. Kiwis are reported to be finding their wings and taking flight to the west because of higher wages and a higher standard of living in the land of Oz.
While 86 % of those leaving are under the age of 45, the majority are younger than 30.
In true ANZAC spirit, both countries are better off. As the late Sir Robert Muldoon, NZ Prime Minister in the late 1970s, quipped: "Kiwis migrating to Australia raised the average IQ in both countries".
Muldoon's government did its level best to mis-manage the economy in those years, helping to precipitate an exodus then. Kiwi voters on both sides of the Tasman gave him the toss in his equally famous mis-timed snap election of 1984.
His refusal to roll back a 40% sales tax on music sales because pop music wasn't "culture" prompted the following response below from NZ band, The Knobz:
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