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A Waikato University researcher says there’s good news and bad news in the massive migration of Māori across the Tasman.
Tahu Kukutai from the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis has crunched the numbers from the 2011 Australian Census and found about 128,000 Māori live across the ditch.
She says there’s a big difference between Australian-born Māori and Māori migrants, especially those who moved after 2001 when welfare rules were changed.
While the migrants are better paid than they would be back home, there is a concentration in low-skilled industries.
"There is an in-built vulnerability for many Māori migrants living in Australia because so many have arrived there recently after 2001, after those changes, they have lower levels of education and human capital, are clustered in these low skilled jobs and many probably don't have recourse to social security entitlements if something goes wrong so we think that’s a concern," Dr Kukutai says.
The census shows the Māori diaspora is growing, which has implications for those left at home.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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