Join the great Sydney exodus

Written By: - Date published: 5:07 pm, March 18th, 2008 - 9 comments
Categories: International - Tags:

long-road-sydney-exodus.bmpHas the prospect of a Kiwi winter made you think longingly of a move across the ditch? Well if Sydney was your destination you may want to think twice.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald points out that:

“The latest Herald/Nielsen poll found 21 per cent of people surveyed are thinking of leaving Sydney, with 39 per cent identifying the city’s high cost of living as their reason.

Crucially, 22 per cent cited job opportunities elsewhere or a job transfer as their main reason for considering moving, while traffic congestion was the reason for 13 per cent.

Local business leader Patricia Forsythe (executive director of the NSW Chamber of Commerce) was ringing alarm bells very similar to the ones we are used to hearing here, saying ‘Sydney could not afford to lose a fifth of its workforce, particularly highly skilled workers.’

And the difficulties that families are facing with rising costs was also acknowledged:

Brian Redican, a senior economist with Macquarie Bank, said rising rents and mortgage stress were driving people out of Sydney. “Certainly the combination of high house prices as well as high interest rates and high petrol prices are putting considerable strain on household balance sheets,” he said.

And that’s despite their higher pay packets that we keep hearing about.

9 comments on “Join the great Sydney exodus ”

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  1. ghostwhowalks 1
    18 March 2008 at 6:48 pm

    I was part of the great aussie exodus back to NZ in 88.
    And the wages I came back to were 20% greater here at the time

  2. Monty 2
    18 March 2008 at 7:33 pm

    Is this part of the great Labour Party promotion to try and stop 40,000 (yes forty thousand) NZers jumping the ditch to get away from this corrupt government?

    Well I certainly do not see too many Aussies coming back this way – so although Sydney has it’s problems the problems here must be much bigger. I think that a change of government (and the routing of Labour) will slow down the exodus. Taxes too high, health system crumbling and Labour robbing the middle classes to pay for tehir power and social programmes. The only thing that will bring a halt to this is the disposal of the big part of the problem.

  3. Tane 3
    18 March 2008 at 7:38 pm

    Yes Monty, everyone who leaves for Australia is trying to get away from this tired corrupt government that has run out of ideas and is clinging to power at all costs.

    It has nothing to do with the warmer weather, better career opportunities and the wage gap that opened up under National in the 1990s: http://www.thestandard.org.nz/?p=1036

    Oh, there’s this too, undermining your entire argument, but I don’t expect you to bother reading it: http://www.thestandard.org.nz/?p=1255

    Come on Monty, if you’re going to bother commenting you might as well make it informed. We’ve all heard the Tory lines on this one, they’re just getting boring now.

  4. burt 4
    18 March 2008 at 9:49 pm

    Sage advice Dancer,

    I recommend Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Broome, woddenbong or nimbin. The cost of living in Sydney sounds too much like living in NZ for my liking. Replace the word ‘Sydney’ with ‘New Zealand’ in your post above, it still makes a lot of sense except for one thing. In Sydney they are not denying it.

  5. Murray 5
    18 March 2008 at 10:50 pm

    I doubt those leaving Sydney will come here

  6. burt 6
    18 March 2008 at 10:51 pm

    Canberra is also lovely in winter.

  7. deemac 7
    18 March 2008 at 11:00 pm

    Stiglitz gave the NZ govt a glowing commendation on TV tonight – what’s the betting this universally respected economist will now be depicted as a leftie stooge by the morons who troll this site?

  8. Dancer 8
    19 March 2008 at 9:47 am

    The point I was trying to make is that we may think the grass is greener, but life is always more complicated than that. Life is Sydney will have good points – and obviously bad points. Just the same as anywhere. You win on some aspects, lose on others. But what keeps people coming home to NZ continues to be our family, lifestyle, and environment – be great if one day we can say wages as well.

  9. George Darroch 9
    19 March 2008 at 6:12 pm

    The price of a house went up by 25% in Melbourne last year, and anywhere connected to the minerals boom is similarly affected by cost of living increases – the differential between Sydney and other population centers is narrowing.