It seems like everyone’s leaving for Australia, and these numbers point to why.
Oi, you there. Are you moving to Australia? Ever fantasised about “handles” of lager and time-and-a-half on weekends? Ever done this while grimly wiping away window condensation in your expensive rental? Record numbers of New Zealanders are upping sticks and boosting across the Tasman. More than the entire population of Whanganui left Aotearoa for Australia between March 2024 and March 2025. The numbers are enough to make international headlines and cause domestic concern about stagnating population figures. But what exactly are those numbers?
47,700
The number of migrant departures from Aotearoa to Australia in the year to March 2025; 28,500 of them were New Zealand citizens. Another 30,000 moved to Australia the year prior.
AU$2,010
The average weekly earnings for a full-time adult in Australia (seasonally adjusted) as of May 2025. Incomes had seen an annual increase of 4.5% since May 2024, though women in the private sector earn notably less, around AU$1,777.80. Men working in mining earned the most on average, pulling in AU$3,257.80 a week. Over here the average weekly wage is $1,380, up 2.8% on last year.
3.2%
Australia’s inflation rate. Ours is 3%, but we’re enjoying a combination of “high inflation and shite growth” at the same time.
24,504
The number of people who moved to Australia in 2015. In that year, more people moved from Australia to New Zealand than vice versa for the first time since 1991; two thirds of them were returning home.
AU$18,000
Australia’s threshold for tax-free earnings.
NZ$0.01
The minimum required earnings for taxation here in New Zealand. The lowest income bracket applies to those earning up to $15,600 and is taxed at 10.5%. That’s higher than the average effective tax rate paid by New Zealand’s wealthiest families between 2017 and 2021, which was 9.5%.
45%
Australia’s top tax rate, applied to income earned over AU$180,000. New Zealand’s is 39% and starts at NZ$180,001.
150%
The standard overtime rate for wage workers in Australia, this applies to the first two hours, after which you’ll get two times your usual hourly rate. Rostered on for a Sunday shift? You’ll get paid extra then, too. And public holidays. New Zealand has no legislation requiring employers to compensate workers at a higher rate for overtime.
3:5
Hemsworth brothers vs Barrett brothers.
1995
The year Christopher Luxon moved from Wellington to Sydney.
$85,000-$90,000
The average salary received by a registered nurse in Australia according to Seek. Last year alone, 10,620 New Zealand nurses registered to work there. In October 36,000 nurses working for Te Whatu Ora went on strike over patient safety, staffing and pay.
212
The number of officers who accepted jobs in Australia and resigned from NZ Police between January 2023 and the end of April 2025. “It is not possible to know exactly how many of those officers moved to Australia, only the number who resigned after requesting a vetting request via an Australian Police agency,” a spokesperson told The Spinoff.
The organisation told 1News that it had fielded “more than 670 vetting requests from Australian jurisdictions” in two years. Over 300 cops had applied to work in Queensland and 50-60 cops had gone to the Northern Territory, where the pay rate for new constables is “about $140,000” with a housing allowance or rent-free accommodation to sweeten the deal.
34°
The high in Darwin this week.
0.9%
How much New Zealand’s GDP shrank in the June quarter. Manufacturing fell 3.5% and construction was down 1.8%. Australia’s GDP grew by 0.6% during the same quarter, up 1.3% on the year prior.
12%
The minimum employer contribution to the Australian Superannuation scheme. “We can have what Australia’s got,” Luxon said this week. National has promised that if re-elected next year it would up the default Kiwisaver contribution to 6% for both employees and employers. In July it cut the government’s contribution from NZ$521.43 to a maximum of NZ$260.72 for those earning NZ$180,000 or less.
4.4%
The unemployment rate in Australia. Ours is 5.3%.
AU$0
How much a recently arrived New Zealander would likely get from the Australian jobseeker benefit. Only Australian residents are eligible and those who are can receive up to AU$424.95 a week. Over here, depending on your circumstances, you’d receive between $314.72 and $361.3 from our Jobseeker benefit. Unless you’re 18 or 19 and your parents’ collective income is more than $65,000, in which case you’re one of the 4,300 young people no longer entitled to that support.
67
The age at which Australians qualify for the means-tested but “generally tax-free” old age pension (after 10 years of residency). Here the threshold is 65. NZ Super is universal and $24.7bn was budgeted to cover it this year; the figure is “predicted to double in the coming years as New Zealand population ages,” wrote Eric Frykberg in his Spinoff Cover Story “Perpetually broke: How New Zealand could (eventually) afford its future”. By 2061 we could be allocating half our GDP to superannuation payments.
AU$10.36
How much you’ll pay full-price for a block of Whittaker’s Creamy Milk at Coles.
AU$23.60
How much Coles is currently charging for a 200g jar of Moccona. It’s $26.99 here (when not on special). The New Zealand price is up 25.5% over the past year, which saw grocery prices rise 4.9%. Coffee is closely watched as a barometer of economic shit-ness; both sides of the ditch have seen breathy predictions of double-digit flat whites due to global market factors.
14.2%
The estimate of Australians living below the poverty line, according to University of New South Wales researchers.
AU$146.3bn
The collective net worth of Australia’s 10 wealthiest people according to the latest Forbes rich list. New Zealand’s NBR ranks both individuals and families (like the Mowbrays and Talleys) with its top 10 totalling NZ$52.1bn in wealth.
501
The section of the Australian Migration Act that enables a migrant’s visa cancellation and deportation if certain requirements – including a “character test” – fail to be met. The fallout of the “draconian and inhumane” policy has been documented, debated and criticised. A renewed crackdown has seen visas cancelled for 400 New Zealand citizens living in Australia in the year to July 2025, the highest annual figure since July 2020.
2001
The year Australia stopped granting New Zealand migrants automatic citizenship. This changed again in 2023 with the introduction of a new policy; New Zealanders with special category visas who’ve been living in Australia for four years (and meet requirements) could apply for citizenship, skipping the permanent resident step.
Resident entitlements differ on either side of the Tasman. Only Australian citizens are eligible to vote in the country’s federal elections. New Zealand is a bit more chill; both citizens and permanent residents can vote in national elections.
Permanent residents in Australia aren’t eligible for student loans, but at least New Zealanders citizens qualify for domestic fees. Or you can join the defence force (no citizenship requirement for that!) as long as you’ve lived in Australia for at least a year.
72,700
The “record” number of New Zealand citizens who had left Aotearoa in the year to September 2025.
$570
At the time of writing this story, the price of a one-way economy ticket from Auckland to Brisbane on January 1, 2026. Going to Christchurch instead (the country’s fastest-growing region) on the same day would set you back between $413 and $525. A flight to Queenstown, where 28% of the houses are empty, could cost up to $785. Cabin crew working for Air New Zealand (which recorded a profit of $126m in 2025) are going on strike too. They’ll walk off the job on December 8.
?
How much you’ll earn at the bullet farm.
