Heather du Plessis-Allan: This country needs a change to stop people from leaving

 I don’t think it’s going to surprise you to hear the huge numbers of Kiwi workers thinking about moving to Australia- it's a third of us. 

Researchers from Massey and Otago Universities asked workers if they would consider moving to Australia. 10 percent said yes, and 26 percent said maybe.

Now, thinking about it and doing it are two different things. But I’ve never had this many  conversations personally with people wanting to leave.

A woman in my family said she’s considering leaving when she retires; she’s in her late 60s. That’s a big call for someone in their 60s.

I met a couple while I was on holiday in Fiji last month, he was an investment banker living in Herne Bay in Auckland, so good life here- he’s thinking of leaving, I think to Australia.

Another couple I met on holiday who have a baby are leaving to go to Australia once he finishes his medical studies.

One of my producers just left on Friday, going to Canada. Another staff member here quit today, going to Canada. 

And my sister just told me she and her husband and baby are off to Australia, they’ve signed all the documents.

It's one thing if the young, single ones are leaving.  We expect that, it’s a rite of passage. 

It's quite another thing to hear this many married couples with kids or even near retirees who own homes and have successful careers uprooting their families and their established lives to go somewhere else 

And often, not always, but often they will give you the same reason for leaving:  

They don’t like what’s happening to the country, and they can’t bear the thought of another three years of New Zealand going backwards under Labour.

Today’s Roy Morgan poll tells you the same story. 60 percent of respondents say the country’s going in the wrong direction. Only 29 percent say the right direction. That’s a record low for Roy Morgan. 

This election’s important. We need a change of Government to stop the tide of people packing up and leaving.

But we also need the next Government to truly change the country's fortunes. National, if they get in, cannot tinker. They cannot fool themselves that a bit of change is enough and they can otherwise hold the status quo.

If they do that, voters will see through it and the number of people leaving will pick up again.

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