The annual net migration loss to Australia last year was the largest in almost a decade.

Data from Stats NZ for 2022 shows a net migration loss of 13,400 people from New Zealand to Australia, the largest annual loss since 2013.

Last year, 33,863 people migrated from New Zealand to Australia, and 20,431 moved from Australia to New Zealand.

One of those who jumped across the ditch was Kiwi nurse Samantha Bomell, who moved from Christchurch to Hervey Bay, north of the Sunshine Coast, in January with her husband Gray and two kids, aged 8 and 10.

She said she has no regrets about making the move, and wishes she had done it sooner.

“It was pure stubbornness and lack of wanting to change to and uproot my kids that we didn’t move sooner,” Bomell told the Herald.

As a nurse, she said, her pay has increased dramatically.

In New Zealand, Bomell worked between 50 and 70 hours a fortnight. In Australia, she works just four days a fortnight, for the same amount of money.

In April it was reported that 5000 Kiwi nurses had registered to work in Australia in the seven months to March, while just 164 Australian nurses had registered to work in New Zealand.

Bomell also said the cost of food, fuel, gas and power is significantly cheaper in Queensland.

In Australia, the first $18,200 of income earned by residents is also tax-free. Bomell said the untaxed income helps her pay for accommodation, clothes and other essentials.

Bomell mentioned it is difficult to obtain residency and health care, despite working in the health sector.

The only thing she misses in New Zealand, besides her friends, is being able to sleep in the cold at night and the level of hospitality in New Zealand.

“But you give up all of that to be able to afford to feed your family without having to scrape the bottom of the barrel for food and fresh fruit and veggies for your kids,” Bomell said.

Thousands of Kiwis are moving to Australia to live in cities like Brisbane.

“You couldn’t get me to move back to how I was.”

Stats NZ senior analyst Kim Dunstan said with migration, there was always a “combination of factors that contribute to [the] push and pull factors”.

“Transtasman migration is often driven by the relative economic conditions between New Zealand and Australia, but there are also other factors such as family ties ... people migrating to be closer to family and it applies in both directions.”

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins this year said the new pathway to Australian citizenship for Kiwis living in the Lucky Country won’t lead to an exodus of Kiwis.

The latest figures in November by the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the average wage in Australia was A$94,000 ($101,000) while Statistics NZ said the average weekly earnings in Aotearoa equates to an annual wage of $77,844 in the year to December 2022.

The net migration loss to Australia in 2021 was 5400, however, both countries had various Covid-19 travel and quarantine restrictions in place, including the transtasman travel bubble, which was paused throughout the year.

A migrant is someone who changes their country of residence, regardless of their citizenship or visa type. Traditionally, the majority of migrant arrivals to New Zealand from Australia are New Zealand citizens, rather than Australian citizens.

Net migration is the difference between the number of migrant arrivals and migrant departures.

The data showed although the number of people moving to Australia from New Zealand had returned to pre-Covid levels, the volume of people moving from Australia to New Zealand has not.

Population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said migrant arrivals to New Zealand from Australia were about two-thirds of 2014-2019 levels.

“The net migration loss to Australia in 2022 is the largest for a calendar year since 2013, but well below the largest net loss of 43,700 in the March 2012 year.”

However, the net migration loss of people to Australia was offset in 2022 by people moving to New Zealand from other parts of the world.

There was a provisional net migration gain of 34,300 people from the rest of the world, excluding Australia, slightly lower than the pre-Covid annual average of 62,700 a year between 2015 to 2019.

- Julia Gabel and Rachel Maher, NZH