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By Lawrence Johnston

NEW Zealand is becoming a more attractive place to live and work in, according to New Zealand Government statistics.
The number of permanent and long-term migrants to the country in the year to January 2001 increased by 3,841 on the previous year. The increase in January alone compared with January 2000, was more than 1,000, to 8,020.
New Zealand Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel said the figures suggested New Zealand was becoming a "more attractive" place to live and work.
"The figures are in line with increased levels of permanent resident approvals which are tracking to exceed the migrant target this year," she said.
The Labour-Alliance government had policies to create a more skilled, creative and enterprising country - such as the announcement in February that the Government aimed to increase the annual number of business and skilled migrants approved to enter New Zealand to 27,000 a year.
She said that the January migration statistics should come as no surprise.
It had been predicted some time ago that the number of people leaving the country long-term or permanently would increase, ahead of the recent announcement of a new social security agreement with Australia.
"Media speculation at the end of last year around the potential impacts of negotiations, created a climate of uncertainty about the future of trans-Tasman arrangements. Now that the agreement has been concluded and the trans-Tasman travel arrangement remains in tact, the pressure on outward departures to Australia will be relieved," she said.
It was little wonder that skilled people had been leaving New Zealand, as years of wage and income suppression under the National-led governments made the opportunities across the Tasman look very attractive, Lianne Dalziel said..