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We’re in danger of being swamped by Kiwis, and no one notices.
By Catherine Watson
ONE migrant group appears to fly beneath the radar when it comes to bickering about migration to Australia. In the past couple of years the trickle of Kiwi migrants has turned into a torrent.
ONE migrant group appears to fly beneath the radar when it comes to bickering about migration to Australia. In the past couple of years the trickle of Kiwi migrants has turned into a torrent.
Between 2023 and 2025, more than 100,000 New Zealanders arrived in Australia on a special 444 visa, while fewer than 30,000 left. They now make up 12.5 per cent of all migrants yet hardly anyone talks about it.
Why do Australians regard some people as migrants and hardly notice others?
It wouldn’t have anything to do with colour, would it?
Why do Australians regard some people as migrants and hardly notice others?
It wouldn’t have anything to do with colour, would it?
"I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Kiwis.”
What Pauline Hanson didn’t say
Full disclosure. I'm part of the Kiwi invasion. I migrated from New Zealand over 40 years ago. I only came for a look, but one thing led to another, as it often does, and here I am still.
I left New Zealand because I could no longer stomach then PM Robert Muldoon and his mates from the Rugby Union who ran the country. Whatever life I wanted to live was somewhere else.
When I arrived in 1981 I arrived as a white migrant in an overwhelmingly white country that didn't really think of me as a migrant. The casual racism of many Australians shocked me but other aspects were a relief: the place was a worker’ paradise and no one gave a damn about rugby.
Like most immigrants to Australia I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here. But we all carry another place with us. I missed NZ for a long time. You don't leave one country and immediately embrace another. I was lucky I didn’t have to constantly justify myself. I looked the same. The locals made fun of my accent but no one ever told me to “Piss off back to Rotorua”.
The trouble with migrants, as Pauline Hanson knows, is that they bring the tribe with them.
Guilty. In 2017, I suggested my 25yo niece Megan try her luck in Wonthaggi. Six months later her partner came to join her. The following year she persuaded her father Hamish – my brother – to come and live here.
I left New Zealand because I could no longer stomach then PM Robert Muldoon and his mates from the Rugby Union who ran the country. Whatever life I wanted to live was somewhere else.
When I arrived in 1981 I arrived as a white migrant in an overwhelmingly white country that didn't really think of me as a migrant. The casual racism of many Australians shocked me but other aspects were a relief: the place was a worker’ paradise and no one gave a damn about rugby.
Like most immigrants to Australia I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here. But we all carry another place with us. I missed NZ for a long time. You don't leave one country and immediately embrace another. I was lucky I didn’t have to constantly justify myself. I looked the same. The locals made fun of my accent but no one ever told me to “Piss off back to Rotorua”.
The trouble with migrants, as Pauline Hanson knows, is that they bring the tribe with them.
Guilty. In 2017, I suggested my 25yo niece Megan try her luck in Wonthaggi. Six months later her partner came to join her. The following year she persuaded her father Hamish – my brother – to come and live here.
“They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate ...”
Pauline Hanson
It’s true, Pauline. If you came around for a few beers with Hamish and Megan while the rugby's on you would definitely suffer culture shock. They seem to know all 3000 rules in the rugby union law book, they shout at the referee, abuse the players, speak a cross between Maori and English and refuse to take Aussie Rules seriously.
At times of national shame, my Aussie mates sometimes threaten to emigrate to Aotearoa but they never do. It’s pretty much a one-way street. Currently about 86,000 people born in Australia are living in New Zealand, compared with about 618,000 New Zealanders living in Australia.
According to the 2021 census, there were just over 600 Kiwis living in Bass Coast, around 1.5 per cent of the population. Kiwis overwhelmingly head north to the sunshine. In Brisbane you’d probably be complaining about Kiwis buying up houses, driving up rents, overcrowding schools and hospitals and taking jobs.
According to the 2021 census, there were just over 600 Kiwis living in Bass Coast, around 1.5 per cent of the population. Kiwis overwhelmingly head north to the sunshine. In Brisbane you’d probably be complaining about Kiwis buying up houses, driving up rents, overcrowding schools and hospitals and taking jobs.
"You know, you say, 'Oh, well, there's good Muslims out there.' Well, I'm sorry – how can you, you know tell me there are good Muslims?"
Pauline Hanson
And then there is the awkward bit. Kiwi-born Aussies top the migrant criminal stakes, ahead of Lebanese and Somalians and way ahead of British migrants.
New Zealand Police statistics show that between January 2015 and mid-2026, 3,748 people were deported from Australia to New Zealand.
Of course you can choose statistics to show just about anything you want to - most were deported under the "character grounds" provisions of the Migration Act for anyone with a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. Many had lived in Australia for most of their lives and had little or no family ties in New Zealand.
New Zealand Police statistics show that between January 2015 and mid-2026, 3,748 people were deported from Australia to New Zealand.
Of course you can choose statistics to show just about anything you want to - most were deported under the "character grounds" provisions of the Migration Act for anyone with a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. Many had lived in Australia for most of their lives and had little or no family ties in New Zealand.
Why the exodus?
Most of it is economic. The costs of groceries and fuel are higher in New Zealand, while wages are generally much lower. Part of it is political: a coalition of three warring parties each trying to out-nasty the others.
And part of it’s probably simply the weather. Those long, cold, wet winters. The never-ending cycle of disasters: eruptions, earthquakes, floods and landslides, ramping up as climate change hits home.
I have a young friend in New Zealand. In the past few years all four of her sisters have moved to Australia for a better life. In the face of the exodus, she’s determined to stick it out, though she says it’s getting harder to stay optimistic.
Most of it is economic. The costs of groceries and fuel are higher in New Zealand, while wages are generally much lower. Part of it is political: a coalition of three warring parties each trying to out-nasty the others.
And part of it’s probably simply the weather. Those long, cold, wet winters. The never-ending cycle of disasters: eruptions, earthquakes, floods and landslides, ramping up as climate change hits home.
I have a young friend in New Zealand. In the past few years all four of her sisters have moved to Australia for a better life. In the face of the exodus, she’s determined to stick it out, though she says it’s getting harder to stay optimistic.
“The growing consensus [is] that New Zealand is dead. Or dying. Depends on who you ask.”
Diana Simumpande, The Spinoff
I was back in the old country in January and I thought the mood was as gloomy as I had ever seen, though when I look back through the immigration records I find that’s probably not true. A record 62,800 people left New Zealand for Australia in the year to June 2012. I can't even remember what was happening then.
Kiwis emigrate here in tough times, then head back across the ditch when things ease. NZ swings left as Australia swings right, and vice versa.
As Abbott and Morrison tried to drag Australia back to the 70s, NZ seemed the more progressive, optimistic country There were periods when I was tempted to go back and live there, even if only for a couple of years.
Though I never did. I found my place and my people here in Bass Coast. I’ve now spent more of my life in Australia than I spent in New Zealand.
It was 20 years before I became an Australian citizen and I did so for practical reasons. I stood there with Lebanese and Italians and Greeks and Afghans and lots of Vietnamese – this was Richmond, after all – and to my great surprise found myself close to tears. Pledging allegiance to a country is after all a serious business.
Kiwis emigrate here in tough times, then head back across the ditch when things ease. NZ swings left as Australia swings right, and vice versa.
As Abbott and Morrison tried to drag Australia back to the 70s, NZ seemed the more progressive, optimistic country There were periods when I was tempted to go back and live there, even if only for a couple of years.
Though I never did. I found my place and my people here in Bass Coast. I’ve now spent more of my life in Australia than I spent in New Zealand.
It was 20 years before I became an Australian citizen and I did so for practical reasons. I stood there with Lebanese and Italians and Greeks and Afghans and lots of Vietnamese – this was Richmond, after all – and to my great surprise found myself close to tears. Pledging allegiance to a country is after all a serious business.
Every time I cross the Tasman, the language draws me back in. The landscape, the trees, the birds, the words. Pohutukawa, Kahikatea, Totara. I roll the words around. I watch the tui in the kowhai. I hear the bellbirds sing.
Then I come back to Wonthaggi and listen to the kookaburras and grey shrike thrush and feel the same sense of belonging. I’m still a Kiwi but somewhere along the way I became an Australian as well.
Australia has changed enormously since I arrived in the 1980s. It’s no longer a white country and it’s finally beginning to reckon with its past. Some people find that difficult to accept.
Most migrants are like me. Grateful for the opportunities Australia has given them. The difference is that no matter how long they live here, some will always be “foreign” to Pauline Hanson.
Then I come back to Wonthaggi and listen to the kookaburras and grey shrike thrush and feel the same sense of belonging. I’m still a Kiwi but somewhere along the way I became an Australian as well.
Australia has changed enormously since I arrived in the 1980s. It’s no longer a white country and it’s finally beginning to reckon with its past. Some people find that difficult to accept.
Most migrants are like me. Grateful for the opportunities Australia has given them. The difference is that no matter how long they live here, some will always be “foreign” to Pauline Hanson.
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Australia would face a rapidly aging population (think Japan) which will lead to severe labour shortages in key services. Domestic birth rates sit well below replacement level hence a much smaller economy.
If you don’t grow you wither away and die. This what Pauline Hanson is offering.
I have always said that we need to grow Australia’s population to around 60 million people. Why?
Because if we have a population of 60 million people we can justify having our own manufacturing base as well as a huge services sector.
By having a population base of 60 million people would grow our economy to around $4.5 trillion in today’s dollars which would be bigger than the Japanese economy and the British economy.
I’m all for growing the economy by growing the population. I’m all for creating opportunities for people and a better lifestyle.
Think the City of Bass Coast and how we’re going to get there?
I'm more worried that Tony Abbott was born in Wales!
It'll never happen in my lifetime, but I've always been a fan of everyone becoming a global citizen, given we're from earth and all.