An Australian population expert says the migration of New Zealanders to Australia is due to economic, social and environmental factors, and can’t be controlled by either government.
Professor Peter McDonald is the director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University, and is in New Zealand this week to speak at a University of Waikato seminar.
He says New Zealanders moving across the ditch is “determined very largely by relative economic conditions - including wages - in the two countries and is out of the control of either government”.
Governments need to realise that population numbers can’t be determined by policy, he says, and along with businesses and communities should focus on improving wellbeing, Professor McDonald says.
“Long-term, future population cannot be exogenously determined by policy makers but will be an endogenous outcome of social, economic and environmental determinants.”
3 News