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My least favourite data dump yesterday.\xa0\xa0

Firstly tourism \u2013 which yet again reminds me how, when I was asking well in excess of a year ago where the hell all the people were, no one seemed to care or hear me\xa0

Fast forward 18 months, with the numbers stuck at about 80% of what they were 5 years ago, the industry I read now is \u201cworried". Why weren't they worried when I was worried? Why does it take so many so long to wake up to what's staring at them?\xa0

But they aren't as bad as the migration figures, also out yesterday.\xa0We are still leaving the country in record numbers. Overall, we are gaining people, but the people are coming from China, India, Fiji, and the Philippines. Which is not being racist, but it is questioning just what sort of skills they are bringing and how great is the cultural balance being affected by us leaving and them arriving.\xa0

The reason I hate the departure numbers so much is severalfold: \xa0

1. They are mainly the young. Not good for our future.\xa0

2. It isn't stopping. Having people scarper isn't new but having them scraper continually for such a long period is.\xa0

Places like Wellington are being hollowed out as the young leave, but the arrivals land in places like Auckland.\xa0So overall we are not replacing like with like.\xa0

But the thing that irks me most is the credibility issue.\xa0\xa0

We look like crap. We look like a bad party. We look like Nigel-no-mates.\xa0

Our rep is rubbish. New Zealanders look around month, after month, after month, and say, you know what? I don't want to be here anymore. I don\u2019t like it here; I like it over there.\xa0

Over there is mainly Australia, and I have never liked losing to Australia.\xa0

I don\u2019t mind people leaving, I\xa0don\u2019t mind competing. It\u2019s a free and open world.\xa0

But I think that is part of the issue. Are we competing? Are we competitive? What do we have to offer, what's compelling about New Zealand in 2024?\xa0

Numbers don\u2019t lie. Immigration is often driven by the wanderlust of youth \u2013 this is more than wanderlust. This is dislike, this is no future, this is despair.\xa0

We are bleeding people and talent.\xa0

Of all the damage Labour did to this country, forcing its young people out might historically be shown to be the most ruinous thing of all.\xa0

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