Aussies warned of Kiwi influx post election
11:20AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
ALICE SPRINGS - Australians should brace themselves for a Kiwi onslaught, according to a population expert who says a New Zealand election later this year will trigger an exodus.
Speaking at the Australian Population Association's 14th biennial conference in Alice Springs, Professor Richard Bedford from the University of Waikato said there was an average of 800 New Zealanders a week leaving for Australia.
"With an election coming up in New Zealand later this year, inevitably there will be a migration issue. There has been one for every election since the early 1990s," he said.
"The migration issue for 2008, in my view, without doubt, will be the exodus to Australia."
Prof Bedford's comments follow the release in June of New Zealand's latest migration statistics which found that in the year to May 44,749 people left permanently for Australia.
This compared to 37,713 people for the same period the year before.
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