July 14, 2024 • 13 mins
More and more Kiwis are heading overseas to see if the grass is really greener on the other side.
Most of us are heading to Australia, with latest figures showing 27,000 moved last year, but thousands are still flocking to the United Kingdom for their OE.
People are gambling on getting better pay and conditions overseas, and escaping New Zealand’s high cost of living, but are things really better overseas?
Today on The Front Page, we’ll explore what the stats say with NZ Herald journalist Ben Leahy.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer: Paddy Fox
Producer: Ethan Sills
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Gielda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. More
and more Kiwis are heading overseas to see if the
grass is really greener. On the other side, most of
us are heading to Australia, with latest figures showing twenty
(00:28):
seven thousand moves last year, but thousands are still flocking
to the UK for their oe. People are gambling on
getting better pay and conditions overseas and escaping New Zealand's
high cost of living.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But are things really better.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Today? On the Front Page, we'll explore what the stats
say with enz at Herald journalist ben Ley.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Ben, let's get.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Some figures on the table up front when it comes
to New Zealand. What are the general averages when it
comes to say house prices.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Yeah, so the NZ national price according to property analysts
care Logic is nine hundred and thirty one thousand, four
hundred and thirty eight dollars.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And what about your weekly rentals and the typical salary
I guess and householding comes.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Yeah, the national rent at the moment is five hundred
and seventy three dollars according to core logic again, and
salaries can be measured in different ways. So in one story,
we measured the household incomes and the ENDZ national household
income is one hundred and two thousand dollars six hundred
and ninety. We did that with the inflation calculator, So
we took a twenty twenty one figure and we added
(01:38):
salary inflation onto it to come up with that.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And we're talking about these because so many kiwis are
flocking overseas, right, how many people are actually moving to
say the UK or Australia.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Sure, So Stat's ENZ just released new figures this week
and the sort of backdated figures they're a bit older,
but it was for twenty twenty three and they found
that twenty seven thousand more key we went to Australia
then came back the other way. Now that is a lot,
and between twenty fourteen and twenty nineteen we only had
about three thousand more kiwis going across the Tasman. But
(02:10):
before that, thirty thousand people per year was about the
average for the five years back before twenty fourteen, So
it's not record highs, it's definitely big.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
Well, the numbers are beginning to trend up because what
was interesting during COVID was we had a knit gain
from Australia and that's very unusual in our history. So
for most years in the last thirty years, we've seen
anit loss. So we're going back to what has been
an historical pattern.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So let's go through both Australia and the UK topic
by topic. How did house prices compare for people looking
to really settle down in either country?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah? Sure, Well, let's put it in simple terms.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
London is the most expensive, so it's almost say a
beast onto itself if the house prices is just in
excess of Australia and New Zealand cities pretty much because
it's like a world city rwn. But when you take
that out of the picture, I'm sorry to say, but
New Zealand house prices are clearly the next highest, which
is it's hard to sort of stomach, isn't it. But
(03:14):
then beyond that, maybe then you've got Australian house prices
and then the UK excluding.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
London for those younger kiwi's, maybe those looking to do
an OWI for a few years or a couple of years.
How does the rental market compare.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, so once again kiwis heading to London.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Rental prices are really expensive in London compared to Australia
and New Zealand. So just for instance, London's typical weekly
rent is one thousand dollars in the latest figures that
we had, and you know, by comparison, Auckland's about six
hundred and thirty six. So when you take London out
of the picture then it's actually fairly even the prices
between all three countries. So yeah, it's a bit of
(03:53):
a mix, but Australia may be a little bit more
expensive than New Zealand and the UK to reanting.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And the UK gets cheaper the further out you get
from those big cities. Hey, much like New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Sure, if you pretty much head north out of London,
it starts to get cheaper, especially places like Sheffield, Liverpool
and Leeds.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, a lot cheaper than in London.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And we all know anecdotally that the big draw card
for going overseas is for the biggest salaries.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Do the stats actually.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Support that definitely in the case of Australia. Yeah, I
think in one of the stories where we compared New
Zealand household income compared to the Australian states, and it's
pretty much below most of the Australian states. So if
you take the Australian Capital Territory, we worked out that
the household income there was one hundred and forty four
(04:41):
thousand dollars per year and by comparison, New Zealand's was
one hundred thousand dollars per year.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
Well, the under twenties are eight percent better off in
New Zealand. At every other age group, the difference grows
to about twenty percent in the favor of Australia. Adding
fuel to the fire. Let's also consider that Australia employers
at eleven percent of super on top of these wages,
well in New Zealand we get a poultry three percent. Clearly,
with the best available data from both countries governments, Australia
(05:10):
has more money to offer kiwi's of all age groups.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Just anecdotally. There's one person we spoke to was a
maths teacher. So he went from Hamilton across to Melbourne
in Victoria and his salary jumps thirty one thousand dollars
just by catching the flight basically, so he was a
fourth year maths teacher. He's getting paid seventy thousand dollars
in Hamilton. Then when he went to Victoria's salary jumped
(05:36):
up to ninety one thousand dollars plus superannuation, which took
it to one hundred and one thousand dollars in total.
And then when you look at some of the police
campaigns that have been going on. Last year, the Northern
Territory Police launched a very high profile campaign to get
Kiwi cops. It was to live in more remote parts
of the Northern Territory, but yeah, it was still up
(05:58):
to sixty thousand dollars higher than and some police salaries
here in New Zealand. And just in terms of who
might be going, police are actively recruiting, especially people in
like healthcare, doctors, nurses and even just on the weekend,
I was speaking to a police officer who is from
South Auckland and he just said that he thought there
was up to eighty police from South Auckland that had
(06:21):
headed over to Australia in the last six months.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
He migrated from India.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
At some stage, he's got a new baby with his
newly married wife, or he's expecting.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
He's one month off having his new baby.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
So you can imagine the sort of pressures on someone
like that when house prices are so high in Auckland
about why it might be attractive to go across the Tasman.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now is actually a pretty good time to bring up
the fact that you will be able to tell from
my accent, maybe not from yours, Ben, but we are
both Australian and you know the irony is not.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Lost on us.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
For us too speaking about this topic, Gay, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
And you know, I feel like, having done a few
of these stories, is now that maybe Victoria Police Lauthern
Territory Police should be paying me a little bit of
commission for all these people we're helping sand across the Tasman. Right,
We're here making the sacrifices on lower salaries just to
boost Australia with all these talented kiwis.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We just love our jobs so much, that's all. When
we love New Zealand so much.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
The UK, it's perhaps surprising to see that the opportunity
for huge incomes isn't as glorious as it may seem.
What if people you've spoken to said about the lifestyle
and cost of living.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
There, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So yeah, in the stories for both moving to Australia
and the UK, we actually talk to the people running
those Facebook groups that help people move. So Kiwi's moving
to Victoria and kiwis in London, and so the guy
who's running Kiwi's in London, he was saying it's great
for certain skills, you know, like trade's.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
He called it actually a paradise for trades in the
UK at the moment.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Nanny's sort of tried and true job for a Kiwi's
moving across to the UK, and he said there's great money.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
To do live in workers and nanny.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Other jobs not so easy if you're looking to be
a receptionist or an administrator. He said, there's lots of competition.
You know, in Auckland you might face, you know, a
couple of thousand people looking for the same job. It
can be millions in London. On the other side of it,
you know, there's always professionals that go to London and
it's like a magnetic lure for them. They're going there
for big salaries already, you know, they're highly trained and
(08:33):
they can.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Progress their careers.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
We talked to one couple they called Danny l and
Lee Mackenzie and they've been living in rodor Ruin. Danniel's
a librarian and Lee's a musician and when COVID sort
of dried up the musical opportunities for Lee in Rohodoru,
that together with the cost of living pressures and the
fact that Lee has a British citizenship encouraged them just
to go and try their luck over there. So they've
(08:57):
moved over to Sheffield in the sort of mid north
west of the UK and they're getting on great. Like
danny Al was saying, there's just not much opportunity to
progress as the library here because there's not many libraries.
And when she got there, she's now in charge of
three out of fifteen libraries in her local district. She's
close to like famous libraries. And Lee is singing at
(09:17):
beer festivals and in the pub scene. And yeah, they're
both thriving and they're on salaries equal or better to
New Zealand and cheaper.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
In what are the supermarket and fuel prices like in
both Australia.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And the UK.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
We've got to give these kids moving to London some relief.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Yeah, I mean, if you move to London then that's
definitely your favorite. The supermarkets are a lot cheaper from
what we've seen and what people say an acdotally, one
person who just moved from the Herald across to London
was saying Kiwi fruit is cheaper in London, and dairy,
which is sort of hard to understand. Dairy in particular
can be three quarters or even half the price in
(09:54):
the UK. To hear, Australia is also we found was
also a bit cheaper countdown compared to war, but the
costs less pronounced. So and then when it comes to petrol,
Australia is the cheapest. End Z comes in next. And
then the UK I think feeling sort of geopolitical pressures,
having a bit of a fuel crisis with gas prices
going up.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Petrol hitting an average of one hundred and fifty point
one pence a liter and that's the highest it's been
since November, and diesel hitting one hundred and fifty eight
point three pence a liter. Why the spike. Well, when
we woke up to news of those missiles in Iran
on Friday, the price of oil sword temporarily and despite
that settling, we are feeling those echoes at the pumps
(10:37):
combined with a weeker pound compared to the dollar.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
And then just anecdotally some of the things about Australia.
There has been some mention about childcare being more expensive.
Kiwis in Australia don't have access to as much services
as Australians in New Zealand do, so that's some of
the sort of hidden challenges when you move over there.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And I've seen some comments under your articles with people
talking about taxes, fees and the like. Are there any
hidden costs that came up in your research in either country?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yeah, taxes is important, but we didn't look into it
too closely for these stories, so I can't really say
too much about that.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Hidden costs.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Like I mentioned earlier, childcare is one that just came
up a lot in Australia UK sort of petrol prices, actually,
I should say in Australia, buying a car is something
that comes up a lot. So while the petrol might
be cheaper, most people talked about buying a car as
being quite a lot more expensive.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
When you look at the numbers like this, it does
seem like, particularly in Australia, there are some slightly better
opportunities over there would you agree, and do you think
the New Zealand government needs to do anything to address
this to try and kind of stop people flocking overseas
for greener pastures.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, it's a tough one. I mean, the key one
is salaries.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Everyone I spoke to almost that went to Australia is
just talking about salaries.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
They just tend to be so much higher.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
And when you take the higher salary and compare it
to house prices, it just makes a really tough pressure
on locals here, especially in Auckland and other major cities
in New Zealand. So it's difficult for the government to
improve those things. As a property reporter, I would almost
argue that government has very little impact over the housing markets,
so it's difficult for them to do anything substantial to
(12:21):
bring down house prices. In terms of salaries. Often it
goes back to sort of productivity and opportunities, doesn't it.
So I guess I really feel that if the government
can focus on things to help productivity, more job opportunities,
boost salaries, anything they can do to improve house prices
and probably more importantly a lot of things around infrastructure
(12:43):
and just daily life, you know, so that people enjoy
living here and don't feel the pressures of the costs
as much because they're enjoying a really nice life.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Do you have any thoughts on moving back to Aussie.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I've married someone who is on the paths in New
Zealand citizenship, which he's just achieved, so we're not sure yet.
That was sort of the main plan was to stick
around for her citizenship, and I guess we'll be here
for a while yet and after that not sure, but
it's always a pull back for your own family and
maybe the sunshine.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
A bit warmer.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
But you're from Melbourne, aren't you. Yeah, yeah, that's a
bit of a stretch.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, that is at.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Thanks for joining us, Ben, Thank you, Chelsea. That's it
for this episode of The Front Page. You can read
more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzed
Herald dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced
by Ethan Siles with sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels.
(13:44):
Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow
Speaker 3 (13:49):
For another look behind the headlines.
Gielda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. More
and more Kiwis are heading overseas to see if the
grass is really greener. On the other side, most of
us are heading to Australia, with latest figures showing twenty
(00:28):
seven thousand moves last year, but thousands are still flocking
to the UK for their oe. People are gambling on
getting better pay and conditions overseas and escaping New Zealand's
high cost of living.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But are things really better.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Today? On the Front Page, we'll explore what the stats
say with enz at Herald journalist ben Ley.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Ben, let's get.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Some figures on the table up front when it comes
to New Zealand. What are the general averages when it
comes to say house prices.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Yeah, so the NZ national price according to property analysts
care Logic is nine hundred and thirty one thousand, four
hundred and thirty eight dollars.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And what about your weekly rentals and the typical salary
I guess and householding comes.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Yeah, the national rent at the moment is five hundred
and seventy three dollars according to core logic again, and
salaries can be measured in different ways. So in one story,
we measured the household incomes and the ENDZ national household
income is one hundred and two thousand dollars six hundred
and ninety. We did that with the inflation calculator, So
we took a twenty twenty one figure and we added
(01:38):
salary inflation onto it to come up with that.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And we're talking about these because so many kiwis are
flocking overseas, right, how many people are actually moving to
say the UK or Australia.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Sure, So Stat's ENZ just released new figures this week
and the sort of backdated figures they're a bit older,
but it was for twenty twenty three and they found
that twenty seven thousand more key we went to Australia
then came back the other way. Now that is a lot,
and between twenty fourteen and twenty nineteen we only had
about three thousand more kiwis going across the Tasman. But
(02:10):
before that, thirty thousand people per year was about the
average for the five years back before twenty fourteen, So
it's not record highs, it's definitely big.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
Well, the numbers are beginning to trend up because what
was interesting during COVID was we had a knit gain
from Australia and that's very unusual in our history. So
for most years in the last thirty years, we've seen
anit loss. So we're going back to what has been
an historical pattern.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So let's go through both Australia and the UK topic
by topic. How did house prices compare for people looking
to really settle down in either country?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah? Sure, Well, let's put it in simple terms.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
London is the most expensive, so it's almost say a
beast onto itself if the house prices is just in
excess of Australia and New Zealand cities pretty much because
it's like a world city rwn. But when you take
that out of the picture, I'm sorry to say, but
New Zealand house prices are clearly the next highest, which
is it's hard to sort of stomach, isn't it. But
(03:14):
then beyond that, maybe then you've got Australian house prices
and then the UK excluding.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
London for those younger kiwi's, maybe those looking to do
an OWI for a few years or a couple of years.
How does the rental market compare.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, so once again kiwis heading to London.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Rental prices are really expensive in London compared to Australia
and New Zealand. So just for instance, London's typical weekly
rent is one thousand dollars in the latest figures that
we had, and you know, by comparison, Auckland's about six
hundred and thirty six. So when you take London out
of the picture then it's actually fairly even the prices
between all three countries. So yeah, it's a bit of
(03:53):
a mix, but Australia may be a little bit more
expensive than New Zealand and the UK to reanting.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And the UK gets cheaper the further out you get
from those big cities. Hey, much like New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Sure, if you pretty much head north out of London,
it starts to get cheaper, especially places like Sheffield, Liverpool
and Leeds.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, a lot cheaper than in London.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And we all know anecdotally that the big draw card
for going overseas is for the biggest salaries.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Do the stats actually.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Support that definitely in the case of Australia. Yeah, I
think in one of the stories where we compared New
Zealand household income compared to the Australian states, and it's
pretty much below most of the Australian states. So if
you take the Australian Capital Territory, we worked out that
the household income there was one hundred and forty four
(04:41):
thousand dollars per year and by comparison, New Zealand's was
one hundred thousand dollars per year.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
Well, the under twenties are eight percent better off in
New Zealand. At every other age group, the difference grows
to about twenty percent in the favor of Australia. Adding
fuel to the fire. Let's also consider that Australia employers
at eleven percent of super on top of these wages,
well in New Zealand we get a poultry three percent. Clearly,
with the best available data from both countries governments, Australia
(05:10):
has more money to offer kiwi's of all age groups.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Just anecdotally. There's one person we spoke to was a
maths teacher. So he went from Hamilton across to Melbourne
in Victoria and his salary jumps thirty one thousand dollars
just by catching the flight basically, so he was a
fourth year maths teacher. He's getting paid seventy thousand dollars
in Hamilton. Then when he went to Victoria's salary jumped
(05:36):
up to ninety one thousand dollars plus superannuation, which took
it to one hundred and one thousand dollars in total.
And then when you look at some of the police
campaigns that have been going on. Last year, the Northern
Territory Police launched a very high profile campaign to get
Kiwi cops. It was to live in more remote parts
of the Northern Territory, but yeah, it was still up
(05:58):
to sixty thousand dollars higher than and some police salaries
here in New Zealand. And just in terms of who
might be going, police are actively recruiting, especially people in
like healthcare, doctors, nurses and even just on the weekend,
I was speaking to a police officer who is from
South Auckland and he just said that he thought there
was up to eighty police from South Auckland that had
(06:21):
headed over to Australia in the last six months.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
He migrated from India.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
At some stage, he's got a new baby with his
newly married wife, or he's expecting.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
He's one month off having his new baby.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
So you can imagine the sort of pressures on someone
like that when house prices are so high in Auckland
about why it might be attractive to go across the Tasman.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now is actually a pretty good time to bring up
the fact that you will be able to tell from
my accent, maybe not from yours, Ben, but we are
both Australian and you know the irony is not.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Lost on us.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
For us too speaking about this topic, Gay, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
And you know, I feel like, having done a few
of these stories, is now that maybe Victoria Police Lauthern
Territory Police should be paying me a little bit of
commission for all these people we're helping sand across the Tasman. Right,
We're here making the sacrifices on lower salaries just to
boost Australia with all these talented kiwis.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We just love our jobs so much, that's all. When
we love New Zealand so much.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
The UK, it's perhaps surprising to see that the opportunity
for huge incomes isn't as glorious as it may seem.
What if people you've spoken to said about the lifestyle
and cost of living.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
There, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So yeah, in the stories for both moving to Australia
and the UK, we actually talk to the people running
those Facebook groups that help people move. So Kiwi's moving
to Victoria and kiwis in London, and so the guy
who's running Kiwi's in London, he was saying it's great
for certain skills, you know, like trade's.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
He called it actually a paradise for trades in the
UK at the moment.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Nanny's sort of tried and true job for a Kiwi's
moving across to the UK, and he said there's great money.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
To do live in workers and nanny.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Other jobs not so easy if you're looking to be
a receptionist or an administrator. He said, there's lots of competition.
You know, in Auckland you might face, you know, a
couple of thousand people looking for the same job. It
can be millions in London. On the other side of it,
you know, there's always professionals that go to London and
it's like a magnetic lure for them. They're going there
for big salaries already, you know, they're highly trained and
(08:33):
they can.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Progress their careers.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
We talked to one couple they called Danny l and
Lee Mackenzie and they've been living in rodor Ruin. Danniel's
a librarian and Lee's a musician and when COVID sort
of dried up the musical opportunities for Lee in Rohodoru,
that together with the cost of living pressures and the
fact that Lee has a British citizenship encouraged them just
to go and try their luck over there. So they've
(08:57):
moved over to Sheffield in the sort of mid north
west of the UK and they're getting on great. Like
danny Al was saying, there's just not much opportunity to
progress as the library here because there's not many libraries.
And when she got there, she's now in charge of
three out of fifteen libraries in her local district. She's
close to like famous libraries. And Lee is singing at
(09:17):
beer festivals and in the pub scene. And yeah, they're
both thriving and they're on salaries equal or better to
New Zealand and cheaper.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
In what are the supermarket and fuel prices like in
both Australia.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And the UK.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
We've got to give these kids moving to London some relief.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Yeah, I mean, if you move to London then that's
definitely your favorite. The supermarkets are a lot cheaper from
what we've seen and what people say an acdotally, one
person who just moved from the Herald across to London
was saying Kiwi fruit is cheaper in London, and dairy,
which is sort of hard to understand. Dairy in particular
can be three quarters or even half the price in
(09:54):
the UK. To hear, Australia is also we found was
also a bit cheaper countdown compared to war, but the
costs less pronounced. So and then when it comes to petrol,
Australia is the cheapest. End Z comes in next. And
then the UK I think feeling sort of geopolitical pressures,
having a bit of a fuel crisis with gas prices
going up.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Petrol hitting an average of one hundred and fifty point
one pence a liter and that's the highest it's been
since November, and diesel hitting one hundred and fifty eight
point three pence a liter. Why the spike. Well, when
we woke up to news of those missiles in Iran
on Friday, the price of oil sword temporarily and despite
that settling, we are feeling those echoes at the pumps
(10:37):
combined with a weeker pound compared to the dollar.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
And then just anecdotally some of the things about Australia.
There has been some mention about childcare being more expensive.
Kiwis in Australia don't have access to as much services
as Australians in New Zealand do, so that's some of
the sort of hidden challenges when you move over there.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And I've seen some comments under your articles with people
talking about taxes, fees and the like. Are there any
hidden costs that came up in your research in either country?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yeah, taxes is important, but we didn't look into it
too closely for these stories, so I can't really say
too much about that.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Hidden costs.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Like I mentioned earlier, childcare is one that just came
up a lot in Australia UK sort of petrol prices, actually,
I should say in Australia, buying a car is something
that comes up a lot. So while the petrol might
be cheaper, most people talked about buying a car as
being quite a lot more expensive.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
When you look at the numbers like this, it does
seem like, particularly in Australia, there are some slightly better
opportunities over there would you agree, and do you think
the New Zealand government needs to do anything to address
this to try and kind of stop people flocking overseas
for greener pastures.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, it's a tough one. I mean, the key one
is salaries.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Everyone I spoke to almost that went to Australia is
just talking about salaries.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
They just tend to be so much higher.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
And when you take the higher salary and compare it
to house prices, it just makes a really tough pressure
on locals here, especially in Auckland and other major cities
in New Zealand. So it's difficult for the government to
improve those things. As a property reporter, I would almost
argue that government has very little impact over the housing markets,
so it's difficult for them to do anything substantial to
(12:21):
bring down house prices. In terms of salaries. Often it
goes back to sort of productivity and opportunities, doesn't it.
So I guess I really feel that if the government
can focus on things to help productivity, more job opportunities,
boost salaries, anything they can do to improve house prices
and probably more importantly a lot of things around infrastructure
(12:43):
and just daily life, you know, so that people enjoy
living here and don't feel the pressures of the costs
as much because they're enjoying a really nice life.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Do you have any thoughts on moving back to Aussie.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I've married someone who is on the paths in New
Zealand citizenship, which he's just achieved, so we're not sure yet.
That was sort of the main plan was to stick
around for her citizenship, and I guess we'll be here
for a while yet and after that not sure, but
it's always a pull back for your own family and
maybe the sunshine.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
A bit warmer.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
But you're from Melbourne, aren't you. Yeah, yeah, that's a
bit of a stretch.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, that is at.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Thanks for joining us, Ben, Thank you, Chelsea. That's it
for this episode of The Front Page. You can read
more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzed
Herald dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced
by Ethan Siles with sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels.
(13:44):
Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow
Speaker 3 (13:49):
For another look behind the headlines.
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