Stirrings
in the Shaky Isles have caught Henry’s attention – according to the New
Zealand Herald:

The
flight of Kiwis to Australia is on the rise again – and
this time it’s looking like a long-term exodus rather than another short-term
migration.

The net
outflow of people across the Tasman has doubled in the past two years to 21,439
in the year to January and is heading towards the peak losses of just over
30,000 a year reached in the late 1980s and again five years
ago.

National
leader Don Brash highlighted the trend in his Orewa speech citing 600 people a
week leaving for Australia, although the net effect – taking into account New
Zealanders who leave and Australians who come here – is 400 a week, still enough
to empty a city the size of Taupo every year.

The author writes: “this exodus is different from
previous migrations, which coincided with economic slumps at home.
New
Zealand is losing people despite recent boom
conditions and the world’s lowest unemployment.”

However,
the Reserve Bank of New
Zealand has tightened monetary policy to the
point that recession is just about inevitable. So those departing Kiwis are
moving ahead of the crowd, and things will get worse before they get
better.

With tight
labour markets here, the arriving Kiwis will be a great help.

In case
you hadn’t noticed, the NZ dollar has taken a big dive in the recent past, and
in this it has more recently been joined by its big sister, the Aussie. Maybe
both antipodean nations are in the process of being shunned by international
investors. This would not be good news. When the Aussies begin flocking to the
UK, the US and Asia
we’ll know its really grim down under.

Read more at Henry Thornton…