The Premium Debate: Kiwi teachers and nurses share what they make across the ditch

Is life in Australia all it's cracked up to be for Kiwis? One subscriber says no. Photo / Getty Images

Letters to the Editor

OPINION

A Kiwi nurse says she earned $170,000 in Australia in a year and it “freaks” her out how high wages are. A teacher about to make $97,000 a year in Brisbane says it’s tough to read about the profession back home. They are among the New Zealand health professionals and teachers chasing their dreams across the Tasman, as those sectors struggle with staffing at home.

Read the full story here: New Zealand to Australia: Kiwi teachers and nurses share what they make across the ditch

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A lot of people have rose-tinted glasses coming to Australia and I was one of them. Before you get severely disappointed, you need to take those glasses off and understand what is going on here. Too much crime and so many civilians carrying knives/weapons on them that the cops now have the powers to search you in a public place for weapons. The cost of living is shocking and Australia is going through the same old problems as New Zealand. In fact, you pay the same prices or more as NZ but in Australian dollars, which is what makes it worse or more expensive. The drinking water here is unfiltered at the tap and I miss drinking fresh NZ tap water. Nothing compares to the food/culture at home in NZ. A Kiwi Uber driver told me that out of 10 Kiwi families that came here, six families couldn’t make it work and went back to NZ. How about that! Australia won’t work out for everyone - do your research before coming here. I am on super-low wages in Australia and was much better off in NZ.

- Tim H

Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves, shall we? Australia is 20 to 30 years ahead of us. It is bigger, its productivity is light years ahead of us, it’s more economically globally integrated to the rest of the world, it’s better educated, has unlimited resources, it’s not tied down with cultural ideology, it has advanced modern infrastructure, is more ambitious - have I forgotten anything? Due to the size of its economy, it can pay for the best, which in turn increases its productivity even more. If you’re young, you’re a fool not to be there.

- Laurence D

Nice money but working in a “remote Aboriginal community” is hardly a basis for comparison with a regular teaching job in New Zealand, or probably Australia either. Most employers offer better than average money if they are desperate enough for qualified staff, but you wouldn’t want to spend your life doing it.

- Colin J

This is observational only and can’t find any data on this, but after living in both countries I have seen a lot more friends become redundant in Australia than in New Zealand. It is almost like firms in Australia are forced to pay high wages because of the competition to get good employees, and at the slightest downturn they have massive clean-outs of staff to survive. It seems a lot more ruthless, with staff being easily expendable in Australia.

- Gemma L

I’m teaching in Hong Kong. I have a great lifestyle and travel a lot. There is no incentive career-wise to return to New Zealand as I would be giving that up in return for a harder job and worrying about paying my bills. No thanks.

- Lara S

The Aussies reward aspiration and hard work, even with majority Labour governments across Australia. By contrast, the Labour, Green and Te Pāti Māori parties’ proposals for the upcoming election do the opposite. Those parties want to punish hard work and success, by grabbing as much tax as they can, even on unrealised assets such as some family homes. The future for New Zealand is looking more and more like an economic and social wasteland.

- Walter H

“History, never repeats.” Or so that great Split Enz song told us. Actually, it does. The stories we see now we’ve all heard before. The high pay in Australia. The “brain drain.” The Kiwis threatening to leave. The “turn off the lights” joke. When did we last hear all this? Back in 2009-2014, when Kiwis were leaving for Australia in droves. At a higher rate than they are now. Under a John Key National government. Yep, history does repeat. Still a great song though.

- Alfred T

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