20 Comments
Oct 22·edited Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

This is a great overview of the reasons underlying The Great Exodus of Job Seekers to Australia. I fear we are returning to The Sugarbag Years (Tony Simpson) when the United and Reform Parties thought austerity was the way to ride out The Depression, with tragic consequences.

Would you consider opening this to the wider public, Bernard?

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Significant that the United & Reform parties officially became the National party in 1936. Austerity has been a complete failure in the UK - does Willis really think she can do better in NZ?

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

I hate to think how long and how much it will take to come out of the deep freeze the economy is now going into.

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

A really helpful, user friendly, explanation of the job market and the economies of Aotearoa and our Aussi nieghbours. Thanks Bernard.

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Just a bit worried about your voice (covid vocals). Take it easy..better here in Australia.. x

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Even assuming the Wright Family Foundation provide funding to some worthwhile causes (alongside some truly awful ones), the majority of their distributable profit has clearly always been a direct transfer from taxpayers. In that light, their autocratic charity seems like a horribly inefficient way to double-handle taxpayer dollars... And here was I, thinking that this government was "laser focused" on getting "bang for [our] buck"!?

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Interesting that the Wright Family Foundation is the funder of 'The Platform', featuring reactionary hacks like Shaun Plunkett & Michael Laws.

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

It's a shame we, as a country, did not get ourselves organised to have govt pre-school education, funded in the same way as state education. If we move into the charter school model, (and this can happen quickly - England has 80% Academies for secondary) we will have even more taxpayer money going into private pockets, some of which may be overseas companies.

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Susan, nothing is set in stone. We should follow the model of Finland, with one of the best education systems in the world which is wholly publicly owned - there are no private providers. We can nationalise/renationalise our early childhood education & drive our parasites like the Wright Family Foundation. We can deal to Seymour's charter schools the same way so that only the government provides free, compulsory & secular education for all, from ECE to tertiary level. In the existing state system we already have special character & full emersion Maori schools, so we have the successful precedent of different types of public schools. Seymour & his cronies don't give a monkey's about 'education choice' - they want a system where only the children of the wealthy receive an education.

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Thankyou for a clear, well put together overview, political parties especially Labour, need to see this.

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Thanks for all the fantastic graphs, Bernard. A picture paints a 1000 words, so please keep them coming.

Some really scary stats in there too, that seem to correlate to the change in government and austerity in a recession. Crazy thinking.

Also, so sorry for your recent lose, Bernard and family. Please take more time off, if you need it.

Thanks Chris (long term subscriber)

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Has anyone done a breakdown of those leaving for Australia, especially a split between NZ born and overseas born? Are some of the overseas born using NZ citizenship as a back door into Australia? Or not as Ozzy citizenship may be just as easily obtained.

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Very interesting - I wonder too if the use of AI to do job applications has contributed to the rapid increase in applications per job.

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No doubt it's a factor but the poor economy is the main one I think - I applied for one recently that got 216 applications according to Seek.

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Oct 22·edited Oct 24

after becoming the government the current government rapidly enacted legislation that allows residential rental property owners (investors and speculators) to deduct their mortgage interest from their income before tax is calculated/payable. this gives residential rental property owners a colossal financial advantage over the people who are wanting to buy a dwelling for themself (and family) and consequently shuts a large number of people out of being able to buy a dwelling for themself (and family). this has mightily pissed off a large number of hard working New Zealanders and is one of the causes such a large number of New Zealanders are leaving New Zealand (eg a niece and a nephew of mine).

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Oh help! and if you're stuck without a job you have to sign up for the trauma of Social Welfare's military style hoop jumping. It's a nightmare.

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Oct 22Liked by Bernard Hickey

Ah, so it's not just the weather...

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In Melbourne. Monday night - big family restaurant Dandenong (outer suburb) humming, even with mains A$35, desserts A$20. No recession vibes.

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Kia ora ki te roopu Kaka.

Good work there Bernard. I'm wondering if there is a further underlying influence at work in this migration stream.

The wages and other forms of income there are higher than here. But some costs are greater. On balance I suggest that the higher wages/salary is a significant incentive.

But a somewhat hidden influence is the level of inequality in Aotearoa NZ. People may not understand how that impacts on our society but they can discern that this present neo liberal government shows no signs of reducing it indeed just the opposite. Tax cuts for the already wealthy plus tax breaks for landlords and no CGT.

Comments. ?

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And my condolences to you and yours. We only get one mum and losing them is a trauma that we all face. Take time to reflect on her positive influence on your life. She travels on in you and your compassionate beliefs.

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