Mike Moore on Australia vs NZ

Former Labour Prime Minister, and WTO Director-General, Mike Moore, talks about why so many Kiwis are moving to Australia. Some of his key points:

* 100 Kiwis a day leaving to Australia
* In OECD ratings Australia has gone from 17th to 7th and NZ from 20th to 22nd
* Per capita income is one third higher in Australia
* Tax is lower at every income level but the top one
* Wages are rising in Australia, after tax, at twice the rate of New Zealand
* Apologists say, with some truth, that Australia is enjoying a mineral boom, but service sector job growth is expanding at four times the jobs in mining, and the drought has shaved 1 per cent off growth, pushing up commodity prices to New Zealand’s benefit
* Australia has concluded a preferential trade deal with the US; New Zealand has not yet begun. Australia is in full negotiations with a trade deal with Japan; New Zealand has not even done a formal study

Moore also explicitly criticises National, as well as his implicit criticism of the Government.

He ends by saying we need to study why one in four NZers now live overseas, compared to one in 20 Australians.