Kiwi-Indian migrant nurses are equally tempted by the Australian state Queensland’s job pitch featuring boldly in New Zealand’s national newspaper.
The state of Queensland is trying to attract New Zealand nurses with a big ad campaign in New Zealand Herald selling the sunshine state and the jobs in the health sector to Kiwi-nurses.
Mainstream media has already reported that the bold advert campaign is already making an effect, with a union reportedly conceding that it will tap into the prevailing sense of dissatisfaction within Kiwi-nurses.
The Indian Weekender reached out to several migrant nurses within the Kiwi-Indian community to tap the level of interest, if any, from the bold advert campaign.
“The opportunity to move Oz for work is not altogether new,” said Shinoy Xavier Vellattukudy, a nurse by profession and President of Kerala Association of Palmerstone North (Incorporated)
“In my role as the President of our association, I get asked regularly for help from a number of nurses from our community about moving to Australia.”
Shinoy Xavier Vellattukudy
“To get them the best possible advice, I often speak with my nursing colleagues working in Australia, and we always get to know about higher wages, better works, and overall better work environment and staffing conditions,” Shinoy said.
“In that regard, there is nothing new in the Queensland job pitch for Kiwi nurses.”
“Except that many of our Kiwi-Indian nurses who are relatively new migrants here may have seen such bold campaign in New Zealand newspapers by an Australian state for the first time,” Shinoy, who have been in the country for decades, said.
“Personally, I am in a sweet spot in my life with my three boys doing perfectly well in their education and respective career development, and I do not wish to disturb them at this stage,” Shinoy said.
“However, for many of other migrant nurses in our community, this campaign might be a great pull as they constantly compare pay and perks with the general work environment and associated work-stress,” Shinoy said.
“What I hear from other migrant nurses is that when we have left our country for better money, life and work conditions, then why we should not be looking for better prospects across Tasman.
Miffin Mathew, another nurse who works for a correction facility in Waikato, also shared similar sentiments.
“Yes, the Queensland job pitch for Kiwi nurses is something not avoidable easily,” Miffin, who has been in the country for around eight years, said.
“The cost of living is very high here in New Zealand in comparison to the number of hours we put in our jobs,” Miffin said.
70 per cent of all my colleagues who started with me ten years ago have moved to Oz
Sonia Thomas, another nurse who works in Auckland DHB, told the Indian Weekender that although she has not personally seen the Queensland advert campaign, she was not surprised.
“While I am not ready to move as I have got my whole family here, but I am not surprised with the bold job campaign,” Sonia said.
“In the last nine years since I have first started working as a nurse in NZ, around 70 per cent of all my colleagues have already moved to Oz,” Sonia said.
“We are facing a lot of staffing issues and believe that the union and the government should do something soon,” Sonia said.
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