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Should Australia shut its doors to Kiwis?

By MSN NZ staff
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Kelvin Thomson
Related articles

New Zealanders could lose their automatic right to live in Australia if a plan put forward by a Melbourne politician is approved.

Labor MP Kelvin Thomson wants to cap the number of Kiwis allowed in his country.

He said the open-door policy for Kiwis made it impossible for Australia to control its numbers and maintain quality of life, according to media reports.

He wants a relationship between the number of New Zealanders arriving and the number of Aussies permanently departing each year.

"This would give Australia control over our net migration number, which we presently don't have," he said yesterday.

"The trans-Tasman travel arrangement with New Zealand would need to be renegotiated to do away with the open door."

Almost a quarter of Australia's migrants are Kiwis, who have an automatic right to live here.

Mr Thompson called Australia's booming population "a runaway train" in a speech to a community group in North Melbourne and said annual net immigration should be cut from more than 200,000 to 70,000.

He wants to see the population stabilised at about 26 million by 2050, instead of the 35 million predicted by the Government.

This would prevent the "declining quality of life in our cities, the traffic congestion and the disappearing back yards and open spaces", according to Mr Thompson.

RELATED STORY: Kiwis face job discrimination in Australia

Should Kiwis have the automatic right to live in Australia? Have your say.

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User comments
Don't need to, as only fools go there long term. New Zealand should lock the Australian out of New Zealand for long term stay.
what a ***! Who of the so many kiwis that are in oz actually WANT to be there?.Come on kiwis rape that ozzie gold and bring it back home!
I moved here to live when I met my australian born and bred husband. I am proud to be working here and I am proud to be helping the Australian economy to grow so that Aboriginal and NON Aboriginal people have a place to lay their hat. Mr BACKBENCHER, I suggest you check your heritage because, the only true Australians here are the Indigenous Aboriginal people. If one goes, we should all go, that includes YOU.
Wow, I am Australian And cant believe what a *** that guy is!! Why shut the door on Kiwi, I suppose if it got to crowded here you would start sending your own family packing. Bald pompous twit.
As far as I can tell, Kiwi's are for the most part, respected by Aussie's - Maori and Pakeha alike. We have a reputation for being hard-working, friendly, good neighbors and friends. Almost every one of my Aussie mates have a Kiwi friend or has someone in their family who does. We fought side by side, we battle each other on the rugby fields and netball courts and now, someone wants to change the rules. Well, guess what! I enjoy the ability I have to come and go across the Tasman. I have family in NZ that I enjoy seeing on a regular basis. I am soon to have a Grandchild who is half Australian. If getting to my family in NZ or them getting to me is going to be made difficult, then I'm heading home and taking my "desired Nursing qualifications" with me. Let that stupid Parlimentarian clean up the devastating Aboriginal health problems without us Kiwi Nurses and Doctors. As someone mentioned previously - don't shoot yourselves in the foot - take it out of your mouth first.
i think that this is just a hideous idea what good would that do. Nz'ers fly to auzzie a lot and go there to live i to have been considering living there myself with my family .... i think you Kevin should look at the number of other migrants that you coming into your shores it is crazy to even think that you came up with such a stupid idea that in the long term would affect you more greatly than us kiwis a lot of your Australian brands are sold here in NZ and it would be a shame if you closed your doors on us kiwis to live in Australia that then us kiwis would not buy an Australian brand then leaving the trade market up the crap i would seriously rethink what you appose to do...
I am in Australia, I would like to say unfortunately, I think this country is going down hill so fast, I have often contemplated moving to New Zealand, because I think yours is more sensible. I think the Australian Government should leave it as is, so I can go over to your beautiful fresh clean air country, don't change it!
No they should not close the door on us kiwi's as we welcome them when they come here i think it is because we won the bedisloe cup and they don't like to be beaten and i have lived there in melbourne for some time before i moved abck to new zealand and they really don't like us kiwis but who care's and they don't even like the greeks and italian's and every other race that goes there but they for get they took the land of the aborgine's all those years ago so Mr Thompson should really look back in to his family tree and he might just get a shock what he finds about his family and i say NO NO NO kiwi's should be allowed in to Aussie
If you won't let us Kiwi's live in Aussie dont bother asking to live in New Zealand
This is a very contreversal subject but the real question should be should aussie businesses go broke.Kiwis are just as much apart of the global trade as any where else so if they go restricting immigration it might come back to bite them from foreign investment.Taxpayers are taxpayers it shouldn't matter what nationality you are even kiwi workers still bring revenue into australia,so i say if mr kelven thomson wants to create this new rule he will be shooting him and his country in the foot.

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