KEY POINTS:
Former Kiwi journalist Mike Rann, who holds dual NZ-Australian citizenship, will be in Auckland this month to convince more of our skilled and talented workers to cross the Tasman.
Rann, now Premier of South Australia, will be selling his state hard at the NZ Herald Your Career Expo (September 27-28) in a bid to prepare for a looming mining and technology boom.
"We are going to need hundreds of thousands of new workers," he said.
New Zealand is seen as a key source of new skills because of high standards of education and training, the ease of moving visa-free across the Tasman, and the similarity of cultures.
Kiwis traditionally head for Sydney and Queensland and, increasingly with Australia's continuing resources boom, Western Australia.
South Australia has generally been bypassed, suffering from a perception of stagnation or even genteel decline.
"We want to let them know things have changed," Mr Rann said.
Since 2000 - two years before Labor won power in the state - employment has grown 14 per cent to record highs, investment has soared 129 per cent, and annual merchandise exports have climbed 67 per cent.
Key sectors include defence, with South Australian companies accounting for 30 per cent of the nation's defence capital budget.
The state has contracts worth A$14 billion ($17 billion), including the construction of the Navy's three new air warfare destroyers and upgrade and through-life support for the Collins class submarines and Air Force's AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
Beyond Adelaide is an emerging resources boom that will rival Queensland and Western Australia.
South Australia is now ranked fourth in the world for mining potential, with projects worth A$25 billion already under development.
The biggest single development will be BHP-Billiton's proposed A$7 billion expansion of its Olympic Dam mine, 560km north of Adelaide.
It will become the world's biggest mine, with A$1 trillion in uranium, copper and gold.
Mr Rann said South Australia was planning ahead, attracting the workers and building the economic and social infrastructure to cope with "unprecedented" new growth.
High on his shopping list for Kiwi skills will be electrical, mechanical, production and civil engineers, computer professionals, electricians, and mechanical and fabrication trades.
Others include nurses and midwives, community workers, builders, architects and cooks.
