Opposition parties say the latest figures for people moving to Australia are a slap in the face for the National Party, which vowed at the last two elections to reverse the trend.
Nearly 54,000 New Zealanders moved to Australia in the year to the end of July, while just 14,000 people came the other way. It is the highest year-on-year net loss to Australia.
The Labour Party says there has been a decline in net migration for the first time in months, and the
Green Party says the Government has broken an election promise, because it campaigned to reverse the trend and under its own criterion it is failing.
However, Prime Minister John Key says the figures are nothing unusual. The migration trend is a
very long-standing issue, he says, and the Government is trying to structure the economy to create jobs.
