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Mike O’Donnell is a professional director, writer and strategy adviser, and a regular opinion contributor.
OPINION: I was saddened last week to hear that Sir Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna Everage) had died.
I discovered Dame Edna on Friday night TV in the University of Canterbury’s TV lounge in the student union building. After indulging in happy hour drinks, we’d cram into the lounge to watch the charmingly venomous Edna undertake poised attacks on the rich and famous in 1990s Australia.
Humphries invented the Edna character way back in 1955 for a theatre skit, later taking her to the small screen when TV launched and then to cinema in the 1970s.
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Edna was made a Dame by the then Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1974, in a spontaneous ceremony on live television.
Somehow Dame Edna managed to come across as sincere but insulting and condescending at the same time.
Her motus operandi was to elevate, then decapitate. In other words, she’d fawn and pay homage to a person’s fame or pomposity, then coldly cut them down to size in a few short phrases that left them speechless in her wake.
One of my favourite examples of this was at the Royal Command Performance about a decade ago when she showed up in the theatre stall of at the time Prince Charles and Consort Camilla. After bowing to them with a winning smile she took her seat alongside and won-over Camilla.
ROB KITCHIN/STUFF
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, readying for a flight to Brisbane, says its a “blimmin’ good day” for New Zealanders living in Australia.
A few moments later an usher arrived, had a quick whispered conversation with Edna and handed her a ticket. Edna smiled at Camilla, gave her a little arm rub and exclaimed, “I’m so sorry, they’ve found me a better seat”, then gets up and deserts a slightly stunned royal couple.
At about the same time Humphries shuffled off this mortal coil, the Australian prime minister announced some major changes for Kiwis in Australia.
Anthony Albanese offered much easier access to Australian citizenship to New Zealanders to help mark 40 years of movement between the two countries that kicked off in 1983 with the CER agreement. In addition, there is better ability to access Australian social services, and the removal of the need to go through permanent resident status on your way to citizenship.
Subsequent to this announcement there’s been much speculation as to its impact on the workforce and economy of Aotearoa. Most of it negative. It’s also resurfaced the idea of a “brain drain” of skilled labour across the ditch.
Former prime minister Sir Robert Muldoon pooh-poohed the idea of a brain drain from godzone to the lucky country, saying that it raised the intelligence level of both countries. Not that that stopped anyone going.
Over the last 20 years about 800,000 New Zealander have migrated to Australia, so it’s fair to say that the current policy settings have hardly held people back.
Kevin Stent/Stuff
Mike O’Donnell is a professional director, writer and strategy adviser.
According to Statistics New Zealand there were 13,700 Australian migrant arrivals in the last June year. When you subtract the 22,600 Kiwis heading across the ditch, it means the net loss was 8900.
But once you look at the global number of migrants heading our way, we’re not running out of people with the New Zealand population having a net migrant gain of 32,400 for 2022.
At a high level there are two big attractions for moving across to Australia – higher wages and potentially more stimulating cities to live in.
The higher wages piece is certainly true. The Australian average wage is A$94,000 versus NZ$77,844 according to respective government statistics.
On to that you can add a currency upside as well for people earning Australian dollars, but most people will tell you the buying power is about the same in both countries.
Iain McGregor/Stuff
If you’re heading to the big smokes in Australia it’s likely that the net impact of tax, house prices and living costs will mean you’re not going to be streets ahead, Mike O’Donnell says.
Against those higher wages the top tax rate is higher in Australia (47%) and house prices are higher, at least in the three biggest cities. Also in Australia if you do plan on buying a house, there is a stamp duty, which on a $750,000 house equates to an extra $33,000.
While individual experiences differ, most will tell you that the education and health systems are broadly similar in terms of quality and costs.
In summary then, if you’re heading to the big smokes in Australia it’s likely that the net impact of tax, house prices and living costs will mean you’re not going to be streets ahead.
Which brings us to the second attraction and that is the vibrancy of the cities. And if you’ve hung out in St Kilda, South Yarra or Newtown – its clear they have a palpable heartbeat that’s intoxicating.
Which may well attract younger Kiwis who have grown out of Vulcan Lane or Cuba Street. But for the privilege of renting over there they are going to pay about 23% more than here.
Add on to that the growing acceptance that Australia has some economic clouds on the horizon that may see it get dangerously close to recession this year. If that proves a reality it would be its second economic recession in less than three years.
Standing back and looking at all of this, I’m not particularly worried about Aotearoa being adversely affected by the new immigration policy.
Like Dame Edna’s approach of elevate then decapitate, what looks and sounds attractive at first blush may prove less so on closer inspection.
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