Grass not so green
Some are predicting an exodus of New Zealanders as borders reopen. finds out if some of our brightest young people — those Class Act awards a decade ago — who received have itchy feet.
With rent, food and fuel costs on the rise and wages struggling to keep pace, many young people are expected to chase higher salaries overseas.
Government officials estimate between 50,000 and 125,000 New Zealanders will leave the country over the next year for an OE or for work as the borders reopen after two years of Covid19 restricting travel. One factor will be countries such as Australia starting to recruit New Zealand workers again.
However, of the 40 millenials who responded to our questions about this topic, only six were considering living overseas in the near future.
They included anaesthetic registrar Holly Johnstone, who plans to work in the Australian health system for a year or two but who longterm sees New Zealand as home and overseas as a place to holiday.
Emma Scanlan, who is doing her PhD in Ontario, is among a further nine already living overseas. She said she wanted to work with, and learn from, researchers outside Otago and experience living in a different country: ‘‘As a geologist, there are also a lot of jobs overseas in comparison to within New Zealand.’’
Many of the 2012 Otago Daily
Class Act recipients who are intending to stay in New Zealand gave reasons to do with their jobs, families and lifestyles.
A significant number said their decision to stay or go had been affected by Covid19. Some had returned to New Zealand earlier than planned while others felt our Covid response had made the country a more attractive place to live.
Solicitor Ted GreensmithWest returned in 2020 after attempting an OE in the UK and finding the response to the virus was very different to the approach taken in New Zealand: ‘‘There were genuine moments of fear during the early stages of the pandemic overseas, when I was seeing news reports of thousands of people dying each day,’’ he said.
‘‘Our Government has done a fantastic job of mitigating the most harmful impacts of Covid and I am glad that I returned.’’
But not being free to travel for two years has pushed physiotherapist Ben Johnson to consider doing it while he can: ‘‘It’s encouraged me to live in the now and not worry so much about what tomorrow looks like’’.
Morgan Harris said Covid had changed his idea of what an OE looked like. Working in Fiji for a New Zealand engineering consultancy, while not the typical working holiday or international move, had given him a taste of an overseas experience and backtoback summers.
The Class Act awards recognise excellence in a variety of areas, from academic achievement to sporting and cultural success, winners nominated by their schools.
The 2012 recipients, now aged 26 to 28, include a senior economist at the Reserve Bank, a solicitor who represents claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal, a member of the NZ
Women in Medicine Charitable Trust and the physiotherapist for the Highlanders rugby team. Alby Hailes won The Great New
Zealand Bakeoff and kayaker
Finn Butcher won a silver medal in the extreme slalom world championship.
The small number who are still studying include Sarah Sandford, who is looking at whether the vaccine for TB could protect against Covid19.
Many have continued with the interests that earned them recognition 10 years ago. Laura Barton is a violinist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Gemma Baldock has twice been a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards and Harriet Love still enters the 48Hour Short Film Festival with her former year 11 friends.
However, some who were acknowledged for their sporting achievements now play only socially due to work and family commitments.
Samantha Grice, who wanted to be a nurse from the age of 12, was one of many who ended up doing exactly what she had planned to. A few, though, took completely different directions. Among them was Kerryn Little, whose field of study changed from glaciology to wildfire management after a stint with a volunteer fire service.
Receiving awards and completing degrees were often mentioned when the cohort were asked to nominate their biggest achievements of the past 10 years. Others said it was continually setting goals for themselves, continuing with the pursuit of knowledge in the postacademic years and giving back to their communities.
Catchment adviser Harriet Love said it was achieving a good worklife balance and learning how to ‘‘undo’’ high stress levels from a life of constant studying.