Closing the Gap

Recent studies have indicated that the Average Australian income is 30% higher than the Average New Zealand Income. What this means is that New Zealand lags so far behind Australia that it will take a quarter of a century of slightly higher growth to catch up to Australian incomes.

The table below shows that if New Zealand's average income grew at 4%, and Australia's at only 3%, in 2032 the average NZ income is still (slightly) behind.



But to grow incomes faster than Australia is a big ask - the latest figures I could find online show Australian's are paid 4.6% more than a year ago. (I used Reserve Bank of Australia data I found at this website: http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/rba/glcawe)

While in New Zealand In New Zealand the average growth was 3.1%.

Maybe the first clue to the difference is to look at what New Zealand and Australian political parties are promising. In Australia, the current focus is on rewarding growth and encouraging investment with tax cuts. While in New Zealand, it's about banning party pills and stopping people advertising in election year.