The following OpEd was written for Stuff and published nationally on 26 December, 2025. As not everyone holds a Stuff subscription, the story is reproduced here in full.
Former PM, Sir Robert Muldoon, once infamously quipped that Kiwis migrating to Aussie were effectively lifting the IQ on both sides of the ditch. It was a great line albeit one he’d nicked from then-cartoonist turned author, Tom Scott, who later admitted pilfering it from the Irish writer and playwright, Brendan Behan. Behan wrote the zinger about the Irish leaving for America.
Over 45 years later, a related mythology is running red-hot about Aotearoa New Zealand’s Great Brain Drain (ANZGBD). No one breathing in NZ could’ve missed itMy simple interpretation of the ANZGBD theory runs that NZ has a collectivised and limited brain function that’s now leaking through some metaphorical plug-hole thanks to net migration deficits and that we’re getting collectively thicker, broker, and grumpier with each synaptic-filled flight out.
Usually after anguished cries about our race to commercial decrepitude, ANZGBD evangelists cite a few choice anecdotes – friends, family, or former associates who’ve decamped for brighter shores promising lands of creamier milk and stickier honey. Hands are wrung, teeth are gnashed. Go-home stay-home Kiwis are told we’re going to hell in an underachievers’ hand-basket. “You’d be mad to stay here,” was one columnist’s recent view.
Ok, I’m mad.
I also don’t buy it.
There’s no argument our diaspora is large and growing. A million Kiwis now don’t call NZ their geographic home. According to Kea, it’s the world’s second largest diaspora on a per capita basis, or about 20% of our current population. Only Ireland’s beating us at this game.
There’s also no argument that Kiwis continue to leave, as they always have. However, for the theory to hold suggests we’re playing a zero sum game – that this collective intelligence is somehow finite and limited in supply – and that it’s only our brightest and best (however that’s defined) who are exiting. The final garnish in the trope is that somehow someone somewhere is to blame so why doesn’t someone somewhere do something about it? Sigh.
I’m an exporter, a business coach, a father of three adult children, and I love the outdoors. I’ve travelled extensively for work and un-work. While I’ve toiled hard for this, I acknowledge this makes me undoubtedly privileged. My business partner and I have run two successful export-focused businesses for over 16 years, through good times and not good times. I’ve also been able to help hundreds of Kiwi software, services, and technology exporters who are focused on growing offshore. I see Kiwi-grown cultural and commercial neurons sparking everywhere. I also see and hear this spark in the eyes and mouths respectively of our expat population who’re keen to help and engage with their South Pacific tribe.
Imagine if we were to shift our view of a large and yes growing offshore tribe and instead of seeing it as an abject failure, instead acknowledge, celebrate, and utilise it better? What if we imagined it as New Zealand’s largest, most connected, most authentic sales and marketing engine? More than logos, shared values, and a library of images, it’s these Kiwis who are shaping the world’s opinion of us, daily.
I’m a firm believer that you head in the direction you focus on. A brain-drain or brain-gain are basically two destinations on the same map. A map with identical terrain contoured by the reality of Kiwis choosing to live and work offshore – but with a different compass setting and end point.
To balance the ANZGBD naysayers and shift the dial a little, I’m now recording the stories of a few of our expats and sharing these through a podcast called Kiwi Flees. These are our unique New Zealander Stories – Kiwi export pioneers & innovators, snappers & journalists, artists & scholars, chefs & inventors, musicians & physicians, dancers & directors, volunteers & athletes, bureaucrats & business leaders etc.
I’ve already recorded a London-based actor and writer, a keynote speaker and globally renowned business coach, and the head of one of the world’s largest sporting organisations on the planet. Recordings with a super-yacht crew lead currently in the Caribbean, one of the world’s top song-writers from LA, a Rhodes Scholar and author in Oxford, and a team of pro-podcasters and market entry experts in Japan are to follow.
Kiwi Flees is in its infancy, its host but a rank amateur. The people I’m talking to are anything but. So, if you’re interested in hearing and imagining a different perspective on how international Kiwis are shaping the world’s view of Aotearoa New Zealand – a brain-gain by my definition – please join me to celebrate this awesome extension of our South Pacific tribe.
Kiwi Flees can be found at kiwiflees.co.nz or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.