Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This past 12 months, the parliament has been in uproar over the arrival of 9½ thousand asylum seekers by boat, but there has not been a word said about the 54,000 New Zealanders who moved to Australia in the 12 months to July, even though this is a 7½ thousand increase on the previous year and 3½ times the 16,000 who came here from New Zealand in 2002-03.

The Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement we have with New Zealand means that we have no control over this border. We are obliged to accept as many of New Zealand's 4.4 million residents who want to live here. If this trend continues, Australia's annual intake from New Zealand will exceed 100,000 within five years.

Open-ended migration from New Zealand is one of the drivers of Australia's runaway population growth, which is fuelling traffic congestion, unaffordable housing and rising electricity, gas, water and council rates. The Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement with New Zealand should be renegotiated to do away with the open door and capped to allow between 30,000 and 40,000 New Zealanders to come to Australia every year, as well as their being able to apply under our normal migrant worker and family reunion programs.

Interestingly, while some New Zealanders have dryly observed to me that New Zealanders coming to Australia increases the IQ of both countries, others share my concern, saying that it is a mistake for New Zealand to educate and train young New Zealanders only to see them gravitate to Australia, with our higher wages and lower unemployment.