The most common explanation for New Zealand migration to Australia is Australia‘s superior economy. Certainly unequal economic development did help form the New Zealand to
Australia migration corridor. But I would argue that migrants‘ perception of economic factors was generally based on their personal and family aspirations rather than rational comparison of the major economic indicators between New Zealand and Australia. Most migrants described New Zealand‘s economy in terms of its impact on their daily life; they had little
28 Bev Brown, written narrative sent to author, 4 November 2009. 29
Mark Koop, written narrative sent to author, 24 September 2009.
78
awareness of the historical events which caused the economic climate at the time of their departure. As Portelli argues, in stories about watershed events, institutional, communal and personal points of view converge.31
New Zealand national histories emphasize that after the prosperity of the 1950s and early 1960s, New Zealand‘s economic performance and standards of living slipped down the OECD rankings. In December 1966, wool prices collapsed and never fully recovered.32 In 1967, the New Zealand dollar was devalued against the pound. The country faced rising unemployment and inflation. Another pivotal moment of economic change was 1973; the year of the oil shock and Britain‘s acceptance into the EEC.33
Unemployment and high inflation continued through the early 1980s in spite of Robert Muldoon‘s wage freezes, price freezes, and Think Big projects.34 Throughout these years New Zealand struggled to diversify its export products and markets. In 1984, the fourth Labour Government introduced a
comprehensive economic reform package. Known as ‗Rogernomics,‘ these reforms opened New Zealand up to the global economy and privatised state assets. In a short space of time the government floated the exchange rate, deregulated banking, abolished price controls, dismantled protectionist trade barriers, implemented tax reform, and introduced a goods and services tax.35 But after initial improvements, New Zealand‘s economy weakened in the 1987 share market crash. National governments continued to implement economic reforms
throughout the 1990s. In the space of a few decades New Zealand‘s protected, prosperous, agricultural, worker-centred economy became increasingly deregulated, diversified,
consumer driven, and globalised. In spite of successive governments‘ attempts to boost the economy, growth in real GDP per capita was low. New Zealand went from being one of the richest countries in the OECD in the 1960s to one of the poorest in the 1990s.36
31
Alessandro Portelli, ―History-Telling and Time: An Example from Kentucky,‖ Oral History Review 20, no. 1&2 (1992): 61–2.
32 Phil Briggs, Looking at the Numbers: A View of New Zealand's Economic History (Wellington: NZ Institute
of Economic Research, 2003), 7.
33
James Belich, Paradise Reforged: A History of the New Zealanders from the 1880s to the Year 2000
(Auckland: Allen Lane: Penguin Press, 2001), 369.
34 Geoff Bertram, ―The New Zealand Economy, 1900–2000,‖ in The New Oxford History of New Zealand, ed.
Giselle Byrnes (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2009), 570.
35 Philippa Mein Smith, A Concise History of New Zealand (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2005),
210–11.
79
Narrators‘ descriptions of the New Zealand economy at their departure do not always accord with academics‘ assessments of the New Zealand economy. Although many New Zealanders were dissatisfied with New Zealand‘s economy their concern centred on their personal financial situation. Kiwis usually omitted the above historical events when talking about migration to Australia; rather they left because they could not find a job, buy a car, or save for a house. While some respondents mentioned recession, low exports, wage freezes and high interest and unemployment rates, the majority described their own wages, employment opportunities, and buying power. For example Frank Pawson‘s memories of the New Zealand economy in his survey are as follows:
I do remember that the unemployment figure was 6 per cent and work in my line was not looking too promising for the future but all members of my family appeared to be coping well. I had paid all of my debts and had money in my pocket and was fancy free and could do what I liked which was something some of the senior members of the community found hard to take. They had lost their grip, I feel I and my way of life was a bad omen for their future financial hold in the community. New Zealand was just a small food producing country.37
As his life story confirms, although Frank‘s motives for migration were partly financial, his economic goals arose from his concern for his family‘s future and negative feelings about Southland‘s restrictive society, rather than an objective assessment of the financial situation. Money, or the lack of it, was a key issue of concern to most people, but only because of their personal aspirations.
Often specific negative economic experiences provided the impetus for New Zealanders to consider migration to Australia. Jake Singer migrated when he was unable to obtain a mortgage.38 George Clarke recalled in his oral history interview that a major reason to leave New Zealand was his inability to buy a car:
I worked there for about twelve months and then I met another Māori fellow there and he said to me, ―Oh why don‘t we go to Australia and work in steel works there?‖ I said, ―Oh that‘s a good idea‖. Yeah, one of the things that influenced that was the price of cars. Cars were very expensive in New Zealand and he said to me, ―You go to Australia you don‘t need it. You just pay a little deposit and you get a car‖. In New Zealand you‘d pay cash for them in the ‗60s. So that drove us to come here.39
37 Pawson, written narrative. 38
Jake Singer, written narrative sent to author, 27 October 2009.
80
Most of the Kiwis in my sample did have jobs before their migration but felt that wages in New Zealand were low. Many Kiwis left as they found themselves depressed by a gloomy economic climate. Gay Gibson wrote:
In July 1987 my husband who was a carpenter was finding it hard to get work in and around Waipara area due to the economic climate and he ended up having to take work in Napier. This meant he was away from home from Monday morning until Friday night. We found life was very depressing with work drying up and friends and family all talking doom and gloom.40
Gay‘s account suggests that the emotional strain of her husband‘s absence combined with friends‘ and family‘s general negativity motivated their migration. Economic factors mattered most when they impacted on migrants‘ relationships and sense of wellbeing. Accordingly more narrators ascribed their migration to the annoyance of not being able to ‗get ahead‘ rather than actual poverty. Frustrated personal and family aspirations were a more significant economic factor for migration than material hardship.
In fact, although the Australian economy was protected from the worst recessions by its mineral wealth, it suffered similar changes and slumps to the New Zealand economy during this period. From the late 1950s–1960s, vast deposits of minerals, metal, and oil were
discovered, creating a booming economy. Such booms were short-lived and could not protect Australia against the 1973 oil crisis. In 1974 inflation increased and Australia went into recession.41 After the Governor General John Kerr, dismissed Gough Whitlam‘s Labor government in 1975, the Australian public voted in Malcolm Fraser‘s Liberal government, hoping he would solve Australia‘s economic problems. Fraser‘s cabinet implemented
numerous expenditure cuts but the Australian economy remained sluggish.42 Mineral exports continued to bolster the economy; by 1983 they made up over 50 percent of Australia‘s exports.43 But this reliance on exporting raw commodities, which created relatively few jobs, ultimately contributed to Australia‘s economic crisis in 1983. Bob Hawke‘s new Labor government of 1983 addressed the crisis by deregulating the Australian economy (although in a less sweeping approach than Rogernomics). Hawke‘s treasurer, Paul Keating, floated the Australian dollar on the international market, made cuts in public spending, and relaxed
40 Gay Gibson, written narrative sent to author, 11 September 2009.
41 Brian Carroll, Earning a Crust: An Illustrated Economic History of Australia (Sydney: Reed, 1977), 166. 42 Russell Ward, Concise History of Australia, Rev. ed. (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1992), 325–
9.
81
protective tariffs.44 Deregulation made the Australian economy more vulnerable. The
Australian dollar lost value. Inflation, interest rates, and unemployment all rose, and divisions between the rich and poor widened. Australian historian Stuart Macintyre concludes that while Australia grew more prosperous over the 1980s and 1990s, success came at the expense of longer work hours and less concern for those who fell behind.45
While it is true that Australia was generally more prosperous than New Zealand during the latter half of the twentieth century, once again migrants based their decisions on positive generalizations from personal networks rather than factual research on the Australian
economy. Large numbers of New Zealanders were lured to Australia by stories of high wages and plentiful jobs. They consistently described Australia as ‗buoyant‘ and ‗booming‘. Many migrants relied on Australian connections‘ stories of prosperity. Marie Reichner wrote, ‗We had a couple of acquaintances who we knew had gone there and everyone was raving about it being the land of opportunity‘.46 Janey Jarman recalled ‗When my parents heard stories of how much easier life was over the ‗ditch‘ and how many more jobs there were Mum decided after a lot of angst we would go‘.47 Western Australia, with its mining boom, was a particular focus of desire. Bruce Ringer moved to Gove, WA, after an offer of work from his
Australian-based employer in New Zealand:
RB Why do you think you‘d made up your mind that you wanted to go?
BR Because I‘d always, it was a dream, even at Boys‘ High. I remember sitting
in an English class telling the bloke next to me, I said, ―It would just be great to go to Australia, work in the mines for a couple of years, make a lot of money and come back and you‘re set‖.
RB Where do you think you‘d heard of that idea that you go to the mines and
make a lot of money?
BR Well it was just general knowledge that you just sort of knew; you could make a lot of money in Australia in the mines. And we didn‘t know how much or anything like that. It was just that you could make money there. And so I thought, ―Oh well I‘ll try it‖. I had this opportunity.48
Many Kiwis moved to Australia without organising a job because they were confident they would easily find one in such a buoyant economy. News of Australia‘s opportunities from
44 Stuart Macintyre, A Concise History of Australia, 3rd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009),
248–9.
45 Ibid., 251, 254, 265, 282.
46 Marie Reichner, written narrative sent to author, 22 September 2009. 47
Janey Jarman, written narrative sent to author, 15 September 2009.
82
trusted acquaintances in Australia gave migrants (sometimes misplaced) confidence about work prospects.
For some New Zealanders (usually tertiary educated men) migration to Australia was a more considered career move. Some migrants were transferred by their company. Large businesses like AMP often relocated New Zealand staff to Australian offices. For others the move was part of a carefully thought out career path. For example, Henry DeSilva was very aware of his long term reasons for migration:
I knew I wanted to be a principal in Catholic secondary schools. No problem taking promotions as a young man, and shifting around, but about 30 I wanted to marry, have a family. I needed somewhere that was big enough to have lots of schools in an easy drive so that we could live in one place but I could still change job.49
Others who had training in specialized fields and could not find work in New Zealand looked to Australia‘s larger job market. Craig Bosel, like many other geologists, was tempted by the Australian mining industry: ‗I didn‘t want to leave New Zealand, however the reality was there were a lot of jobs on offer to new geologists in Australia, and very few in New Zealand‘.50 A relatively large number of my respondents pursued academic careers in Australia.51 For men in particular the ability to move forward in their job field was an important reason to move across the Tasman.
A subset of career-motivated migrants entered Australia for educational purposes. Usually these migrants wanted to follow educational opportunities unavailable in New Zealand. Joanna Matheson attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Melbourne to do a technical theatre degree.52 Mildred Royce attended the Seventh Day Adventist College near Newcastle as there was no comparable institution in New Zealand.53 A considerable number of Kiwis undertook postgraduate degrees in Australian universities, many on scholarships. This is a result of the academic expectation of holding degrees from different universities as well as New Zealanders‘ eligibility for Australian domestic fees and funding. Some migrants moved in order to further their professional training. Elizabeth O‘Connor‘s family migrated
49
Henry DeSilva, written narrative sent to author, 9 September 2009.
50 Craig Bosel, written narrative sent to author, 25 September 2009.
51 This is probably due to some self-selection bias. Migrants with postgraduate degrees were more likely to
respond due to their interest in helping a fellow academic. Nonetheless many Kiwi academics do work in Australia because of New Zealand‘s small number of academic institutions.
52
Joanna Matheson, interview by author, Wellington, New Zealand, 22 May 2010.
83
to Melbourne so that her doctor husband could do his training in child and adolescent psychology.54 Educational opportunities were not a common factor for migration but they provided a powerful motive for those who did move to further their education. This motive often caused people to move who were not otherwise dissatisfied with life in New Zealand.