Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (Photo: Getty)

13 March 2019

Zane Small – NewsHub

Since November 2018 New Zealand has not required departing international travellers to a complete a departure card. Therefore, Statistics New Zealand no longer collect information on how many New Zealanders are leaving for Australia.

The amount of New Zealanders leaving for Australia has been a concern for some years, since the number started skyrocketing in the 2010’s. In 2012, the number of Kiwis moving across the ditch almost doubled since 2007.

It became known as the ‘brain drain’ – the idea that New Zealand was losing its best and brightest workers to other countries perceived to have more opportunity, such as Australia, which is Kiwis’ most popular destination for permanent migration. The ‘brain drain’ has been exposed as a myth.

Statistics NZ migration data shows that general annual migrant departures from New Zealand increased between 2016 and 2018 from 82,703 to 97,498. Migrant arrivals to New Zealand also increased in those years from 144,930 to 145,776.

[Read the full NewsHub article].