More and more people continue to be attracted to the money to be made in Western Australia.  Every other week I hear of another New Zealander who’s off to do something connected with the mining industry over there – the main draw card being the large pay check.

New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that Western Australia’s population grew by 3.4%, or nearly 82,000 people, over the 12 months to September 2012.  According to the Director of ABS Demography, Bjorn Jarvis, this is the highest annual growth rate since the early 1970’s.    

The growth was largely due to a 59% increase in the number of people moving to Western Australia from other states of Australia, and a 46% increase in overseas migration (a large chunk of which must be from New Zealand if my own experience is anything to go by).  Adding to this, the number of births also increased by 2.7%.  Jarvis comments:

"Western Australia's mining opportunities and all of the related opportunities that the mining boom's created are definitely a very strong magnet pulling people not only from other parts of the country to Western Australia but also people who are moving to Australia to start a new life,"

Many New Zealanders have lucrative contracts which provide for regular flights home as part of the remuneration package.  They earn far more than they ever could in New Zealand. People without specific skills also seem to be able to find well paid work over there, many using the ‘OE’ (kiwispeak for the coveted 'Overseas Experience') as a way to save up a deposit for a house in Auckland’s high housing market.  It is nice to hear, with so much of our news being of recession, that some industries are still booming.