Spotlight on tech as Govt attempts to lure home Kiwi talent

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has arrived in Perth today for a short series of engagements designed to help prospective migrants make the move to New Zealand.

As the number of people moving to New Zealand from Australia reaches record highs, this weekend sees Western Australia hosting the first of four New Zealand job fairs across the Tasman targeting emerging skills shortages in New Zealand.

With a key focus on computer software and design, and ICT skills placed on the long-term shortage list, among other trades and industries, Joyce says New Zealand boasts a "growing economy" that is set to create "more than 50,000 skilled jobs over the next couple of years."

“For many people, Australia and New Zealand are becoming one labour market," he says. "We’ve donated lots of our people to work over there in the last 20 years.

"Now with our economy doing better, it’s time to encourage more people to consider moving back the other way.”

While in Perth, Joyce will also meet scientists working on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project - the SKA radio telescope will be the largest scientific instrument on Earth, both in terms of physical scale and the volume of data it will generate.