More Kiwis than Brits move to Oz

                                                                                         

The number of New Zealanders crossing the Tasman increased by nearly 5000 in the past year, outstripping the United Kingdom as the largest source of permanent migrants to Australia.

Department of Immigration statistics released today show 23,906 New Zealanders migrated to Australia in the 2006-07 financial year, up from 19,033 the previous year.

The number of UK migrants remained steady at 23,223 in 2006-07, having topped New Zealand for the previous three years.

Numbers of New Zealanders migrating to Australia annually has almost doubled in the past four years, with just 12,366 Kiwis crossing the Tasman in 2002-03.

The biggest trans-Tasman drain happened in 2000-01 when 26,106 New Zealanders migrated to Australia, before a pronounced dip in the next two years in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

A study of more than 300 New Zealand migrants this year by PhD graduate Dr Alison Green, of Queensland's Bond University, cited economic benefits, a better climate, wanting a change, and a sense of adventure as factors in their move.

But while Kiwis generally said they were "highly satisfied" with their new lives in Australia, they retained a strong sense of loyalty, Dr Green's study found.

"They largely consider Kiwi culture to be distinctly different from Aussie culture, are fiercely patriotic, and often view New Zealand as better," she said.

In releasing the statistics from a report documenting settler arrivals between 1996 and 2007, Australian Federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Kevin Andrews, said New Zealand and the UK accounted 33.6 percent of all settler arrivals in the past year.

The report said the next largest source countries were India (13,496 settlers, up from 11,286 the previous year), China (12,009, up from 10,581) and the Philippines (5561, up from 4871).

- stuff.co.nz

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