Kiwis workers could make thousands of dollars more in Australia, new figures show.

Labour Party has selected affordable housing advocate and software engineer Oscar Sims

After the big citizenship announcement, some key questions remain unanswered.

Sarah Arnold still remembers the day her partner said the three magic words.

For years, the New Zealand couple from Kāpiti had been living week-to-week, struggling to find time to spend together with their daughter, until one day Huia came home from work having been told a long awaited pay rise would be 50c an hour.

"He walked in the door and all he said was, 'book the tickets'."

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Sixteen years after the whānau headed across the ditch, experts fear they'll soon be joined by thousands more Kiwis that New Zealand can ill afford to lose.

The Australian Government's announcement of easier citizenship for Kiwis has prompted warnings of worsening skills shortages in New Zealand as Kiwis are finally tempted to leave for Oz, or those already there choose not to return.

Shay Peters, managing director at recruitment firm Robert Walters says NZ is at a "skills precipice" with inflationary pressures and a high cost of living which make it a tough place to live.

And, with many people about to come off low interest rates and move onto higher ones, Kiwis are eying better lives abroad.

"… There's a real economic push for New Zealanders to move to higher paying countries, and Australia is a higher paying country."

Peters warns that already New Zealand is losing a high rate of young professionals to OEs and the citizenship development is going to make it easier to stay in Australia.

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The skill sets coming in to Aotearoa simply aren't matching those going out as those returning are often looking to settle into leadership positions and are at the other end of their career.

"New Zealand is going to have a real dearth of 'doers' and that is what I foresee coming in the next 24 months."

The country must make itself more attractive to young professionals or the economy is going to really suffer.

"We have to target industries that we are specifically skills-short in. We have to look at the younger generation of newly qualified individuals and get them into the workforce a lot earlier."

Ultimately, NZ is in a really tough position: "Australia is a much more attractive place to go at the moment because pay rates are so much higher."

Economist Cameron Bagrie also expected the development would be a big factor in peoples' decisions to leave.

"It's pretty well flagged that NZ is going to have a full-blown recession and the consensus is Australia is going to avert one."

Bagrie said New Zealand had generally done well over the decades when it came to migration, but was now entering a global environment where there was heightened competition for staff driven by "structural trends such as demographics".

Healthcare workers would be among those who might be more tempted to leave the country, he believed.

Registered nurse Sally-Anne Colmore has already left and has no plans to return, describing the citizenship announcement as a game changer: "We'll go for it, absolutely."

She's been in Perth for about seven years and while her Australian-born son would have automatically received citizenship when he turns 10, now there'll be no waiting for him or his Kiwi parents.

Colmore's salary at mining company Mineral Resources is at least triple what she could earn in NZ, and the company's benefits are incomparable.

That almost 5000 nurses, about 8 per cent of NZ's nursing workforce, have registered to practise in Australia since August, comes as no surprise.

Infometrics has tracked average earnings in NZ and Australia since 1994, which showed Australians were generally at least NZ$200 a week better paid.

But Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen warns against thinking the grass is always greener across the ditch.

Inflation figures this week had NZ rates as lower than in Australia.

"If we could have our lifestyle, if we could earn this money and the cost of housing and living wasn't like it is, we'd go back. But that's never going to happen."

"In terms of the jobs, if they were unequivocally always paying better and had better conditions… why would anyone be in New Zealand?"

Nonetheless, New Zealanders are still leaving.

The pre-COVID trend of more Kiwis going to Australia than vice versa has resumed, after a reversal when the pandemic struck.

Over the year to September 2022 (the latest data available) 5400 people moved from Australia to NZ, with just over 8500 Kiwis moving to Australia.

And while Olsen won't be joining them, it's not just because an economist who can't point out many places on an Aussie map won't be much use to the country.

"Personally it's more because I can't stand the heat at the best of times, and the Aussies can keep their snakes and spiders, I'm quite happy that we have kiwi back here."

One Kiwi who won't be back here is James Ireland, who's planning on applying for citizenship on July 1.

The 36-year-old shifted to Melbourne in 2018, after applying for a public transport sector job just too good to ignore.

"It was basically the same thing I was doing in Auckland but near on double the salary for the same job."

While the money played a big part in his initial decision, it's the future career opportunities, events and lifestyle that have also seen him stay.

"There's more of everything – everything is just a bit brighter and shinier over here."

He says it's on trips home, and particularly to supermarkets, where his decision is further cemented.

Although cheese is more expensive in Melbourne, other grocery items tend to be cheaper; the same goes for rent.

"By no means is it perfect here… however the wages are so much higher, and it feels like the cost of living stress level is 50 percent lower. It feels like that pressure just isn't so intense."

As for the downsides? There aren't many.

Being apart from family is the biggie and the cultural touchstones of Aotearoa are the only other things lacking.

Jandals have become thongs and kūmara sweet potato.

Ultimately though, Ireland encourages other Kiwis to make the move or at least think about it seriously.

And although citizenship won't change much in his short term future, it's a commitment to a country he deeply loves.

"It's proving to myself as well as those around me that I'm here for good; I'm not coming home."

As for Sarah Arnold's whānau? Sixteen years on from those three magic words, they won't be returning – though it's not for a lack of trying.

"We tried for two years to buy a home in NZ; we've been back in Perth a year and have just been approved to build a house. That's the whole reason we came back here – we want a mortgage."

While Arnold and her two younger children are already dual-citizens, Saturday's news means 23-year-old Tiaia can apply now and Huia in three years.

And that's a relief, because life is good.

Huia now earns nearly double what he could in NZ and the house is being built.

The whānau miss Huia's family and Aotearoa's māori culture but mostly, Arnold says, it's all of us she really feels sorry for.

"My only regret is that we couldn't have all this back home, that all Kiwis can't experience what we have here."

A challenge to make New Zealand better

National Leader Christopher Luxon says the easier citizenship pathway is most welcome: "Kiwis make a significant contribution to Australia and they should receive the same rights as Australians do in this country."

Despite that, it's also a reminder that many New Zealanders are looking for better lives.

"It's also a challenge to whether we can make NZ such a compelling proposition they don't want to leave; make it a place where people want to live, work and run businesses."

ACT Party leader David Seymour says while its good news for New Zealanders in Australia wanting citizenship, it's a sign the Government's given up.

"It would be churlish to ignore the relief this will give Kiwis in Australia but its tragic that one of Labour's greatest achievements is helping people leave the country, and it's actually a decision made by a government in Canberra.

"The question is how New Zealand makes it more attractive to keep Kiwis here."

He says NZ must improve its productivity which "underlines the quality of healthcare which is the canary in the coal mine as nurses leave."

NZ First leader Winston Peters says the announcement finally puts to rights the "disastrous" 2001 decision that seriously damaged the relationship between the countries and saw Kiwis in Australia lose their rights.

"It's been repaired and you can't argue with success. People have the right to leave, our job is to construct a society in which they want to stay."

This article first appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.

A Qantas flight heading from Melbourne to Perth was forced to turn back this morning when crew on board noticed the smell of fumes.

Qantas staff detected fumes on the flight deck shortly after the Boeing 737 took off from Melbourne Airport at about 9.50am.

"Following standard procedure, the captain declared a priority landing (PAN) and returned to Melbourne," a Qantas spokesperson said.

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The aircraft landed safely and without incident. 

Engineers were inspecting the aircraft and passengers on flight QF769 would be transferred to another plane, the Qantas spokesperson said.

READ MORE: China 'building cyberweapons to hijack enemy satellites', leaked CIA files show

A spokesperson for Melbourne Airport said a "precautionary emergency response" was issued for the Qantas Boeing 737 after it reported issues shortly before 10:30am.

"The aircraft landed without incident and taxied to the gate normally," the airport spokesperson said.

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Leaked US intelligence documents show China is building advanced cyberweapons capable of hijacking satellites of western nations, such as Australia, reports say.

Beijing has made information warfare a priority and is seeking the capability of "seizing control" of satellites in space, leaked top secret CIA file accessed by the Financial Times show.

The cyberweapons being developed by China's People's Liberation Army would leave satellites unable to support communication, weapons and surveillance systems.

READ MORE: Chinese 'police office' bust in New York 'tip of the iceberg'

The technology would also enable China to control data transmission of the enemy country and gain full control of its satellite systems via surveillance and hacking, CIA analysts said in one of the leaked papers.

The claims in the Pentagon documents come amid tensions between the US and China over Beijing's claims over the self-governed island of Taiwan.

When Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen defied warnings from China to meet with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California earlier this month, Beijing responded with extensive military exercises simulating a blockade of Taiwan.

The leaked documents exposed to the world US secret assessments on Russia's war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.

An investigation by US authorities is targeting what security lapses took place that allowed airman Jack Teixeira to allegedly remove the top secret level documents from the Massachusetts National Guard base where he worked.

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Teixeira was charged in the US District Court in Boston with unauthorised removal and retention of classified and national defence information. He has not entered a plea.

Spy satellites have been launched by militaries from different countries for decades.

Since the conflict began in February 2022, Starlink satellites provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX company have proved crucial for the Ukrainian military in pinpointing enemy positions and intelligence gathering.

And last week, North Korea said it was on the verge of launching a military satellite.

– Reported with Associated Press

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International authorities have seized 45kg of methamphetamine headed for Melbourne after a global investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Australian Federal Police officers in Mexico uncovered plans for the shipment of the dangerous street drug to be sent to an address in Melbourne earlier this month.

The shipment was intercepted in Hong Kong by customs officers who found the drugs hidden inside a thermoforming machine, which molds plastics.

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AFP Detective Superintendent Patrick Gordon said criminals were using Hong Kong as a conduit to filter drugs into Australia from Central America.

"Hong Kong is a popular transit point for shipments coming from Central America as we have seen in the past, including a record 1.8 tonne liquid meth seizure also destined for Australia," Gordon said.

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The seizure showed the importance of the AFP's international partnerships in keeping Australians safe at home, he said.

"This methamphetamine had the potential to cause significant harm to the Australian community.

"Unfortunately, these international criminal syndicates care only about lining their pockets, not the irreversible harm they cause."

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A major federal government initiative is on the way to combat the alarming number of scam texts being sent to Australians.

Next month's budget will include a $10 million crackdown on the criminal behaviour aiming to increase cyber security for individuals and businesses.

More than $3.1 billion was lost to scammers by Australians last year, with criminals resorting to "alarming new tactics", the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a report earlier this month.

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In 2022, at least half of Australia's 25.7 million population received a fake text message at one point.

And research shows one-in-three scammers use text message, compared with 29 per cent who target their victims with a phone call.

Most of these fake messages claim to be from a brand or government agency such as a bank, MyGov or Australia Post.

The major part of the government initiative will be the creation of an SMS sender ID Registry to help telecommunication companies recognise scammers imitating trusted brands.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told Weekend Today the registry – based on current schemes in Singapore and the UK – aimed to ensure trusted brands could not be imitated by scammers.

"To give a practical example like Australia Post, a lot of people might get texts from Australia Post and it says it is from Australia Post and says a delivery is coming, will you be home, a delivery is on its way.

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"What scammers are currently able to do is copy that header using a different originating number and slip it into that legitimate stream so it is totally insidious but it looks completely legitimate.

"So … the registry will actually have a list of numbers that Australia Post says are their legitimate numbers. If a scammer tries to use a different number, the telco will block that from getting on to someone's device."

While Rowland said there was no "silver bullet" to defeating scammers, she said recent measures were having some success.

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"Since July last year, we have had a requirement on telcos to have systems in place that detect, trace and block scam texts.

"There's been some 90 million scam texts blocked and that's in addition to about half and that's in addition to about half a billion scam calls."

Rowland said the SMS sender ID Registry should take 12 months to be up and running.

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A widow and her family are suing Celebrity Cruises for allegedly mishandling her husband's body after he died while they were on a ship last year, saying it was left to decompose and they suffered extreme emotional trauma.

After Marilyn Jones' husband of 55 years, Robert Jones, died of a heart attack on August 15 onboard the Celebrity Equinox, his body was stored for nearly a week inside a walk-in cooler normally used for beverages instead of a properly chilled morgue as she was promised, according to the federal lawsuit filed in Florida.

That left the body bloated and green, and the family was unable to have an open-coffin funeral “which was a long standing family custom and was what his family had desired," the lawsuit says.

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Marilyn Jones, her two daughters and three grandchildren are seeking US$1 million ($1.5 million) in damages.

Celebrity Cruises declined to comment, citing the case's sensitivity and “out of respect for the family.”

The Celebrity Equinox, which cruises the Caribbean year-round out of Fort Lauderdale, is flagged out of Malta and can carry almost 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew members.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, after Robert Jones died, his widow was given two choices by crew members.

They allegedly told Marilyn Jones, then 78 and from the Florida Panhandle, that his body could be taken off at the next stop, Puerto Rico, or stored in the morgue until the ship got back to Fort Lauderdale in six days.

Because passenger deaths sometimes happen, most large cruise ships have a morgue.

READ MORE: Expert's grim warning about medicine shortage

The crew told her that if she chose Puerto Rico, she would need to go with the body and then arrange transportation for it and herself back to Florida, the suit says. She was also told that island authorities would perhaps require an autopsy, which could further delay their return.

Because Jones was alone, she picked the morgue. But that’s not where the body was stored, the lawsuit says.

When the ship arrived in Florida, a funeral home employee and a Broward County sheriff's deputy found the morgue apparently out of service. They found the body in a walk-in drink cooler in a bag on a palette, according to the suit.

It says the cooler was significantly warmer than the near-freezing temperatures needed to properly store a body, and Robert Jones' remains were in “advanced stages of decomposition.”

Celebrity's actions caused the family “extreme trauma by visualising Mr. Jones's body horrifically decomposed, and knowing their husband and father was callously and casually left in a beverage cooler, stripping him of his dignity,” the suit reads.

Jones' attorneys are seeking a jury trial.

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There is a warning today Australia's stocks of essential medicines are balanced on a "knife edge", with hundreds of basic medications in scarce supply.

Nick Coatsworth, a former federal deputy chief medical officer, told Weekend Today the widely used Amoxacillin syrup to treat bacterial infections was among those facing a critical shortage.

"These are drugs that are essential," he said.

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"What we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is we are balanced on a knife edge in terms of medication supply."

Coatsworth said it was concerning people seeking aide had to go from pharmacy to pharmacy to obtain essential drugs such as anti-depressants and medication used for lowering cholesterol.

He said the shortage was especially felt in rural areas.

Coatsworth said an overhaul of Australia's pharmaceutical industry was needed and more production capacity was needed here.

"I think in the longer term we've seen that we don't have the manufacturing capacity in Australia and that needs to change," he said.

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"There's some good news on the front of mRNA vaccines and other vaccines which will be produced onshore but we're talking about basic medicines."

Doctor's groups have lobbied ahead of the May federal budget to change dispensing and prescribing rules, which would double the number of drugs dispersed in each prescription and extend the prescription period.

The suggested changes also propose lower caps on medicine payments, to make them more affordable.

But some pharmacy groups have warned the changes could worsen the shortage of some medicines.

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