New Zealand's relative success in suppressing COVID-19 is making it more attractive for Kiwis abroad to come home, a sociologist says, as other countries continue to mismanage the coronavirus pandemic.
Massey University sociologist professor Paul Spoonley says other countries are driving New Zealand citizens away with their mishandling of COVID-19.
Prof Spoonley says the influx is showing no signs of slowing down.
"As long as other countries mismanage COVID-19 and they make it difficult for New Zealanders to stay, then there's that big push factor - pushing them back to New Zealand - because they know people here; they can go live with mum or dad, for example, or they've got money that they can get out of London and invest in New Zealand," prof Spoonley said in an interview with The AM Show on Tuesday.
Spoonley said it will also depend on how well New Zealand continues to do in managing COVID-19.
But he said the likes of Australia and the UK have also made it more difficult for New Zealand expats to stay there.
"They can't access benefits - they can't get the sort of support they would - so why do they stay in Sydney?"
He believes most returning Kiwis, largely coming from Australia, are returning to Auckland.
"But the thing is about them, we don't know what they're doing - New Zealanders are exempt from all our normal checks and balances with regard to migration."
That isn't necessarily a bad thing, however. Prof Spoonley said many returning Kiwis will be able to fill jobs usually taken up by migrants who currently can't enter due to border closures.
"We're getting some really good Kiwis coming home in a way we haven't done for decades and decades," Prof Spoonley said.
So far, 33,000 New Zealanders have already returned home since the pandemic began. Statistics NZ figures show 4474 New Zealand residents returned from an overseas trip in June, compared with 257,310 the same time last year.
