New Zealand’s grip on the Bledisloe Cup looks permanent.

But in the great economic game they play in heaven, Australia is utterly dominating the Kiwis with mounting evidence the financial gap between the trans-Tasman nations is widening.

And it is playing out via immigration trends that suggest unless something changes, New Zealand will be little more than a retirement community for dairy farmers, Lord of the Rings tragics and worn-out All Blacks.

New Zealand continues to dominate in the Bledisloe Cup. Meanwhile, Kiwis are surging to Australia in search of better opportunities.Credit: Getty Images

Amid the recent debate over migration in this country, the events unfolding between Australia and New Zealand have been largely ignored.

Not in New Zealand. It’s reached the point that the nation’s treasury department recently released a series of research papers with most focusing on the movement of people out of the country and across the Tasman.

The work was done for two reasons: New Zealand’s economy is in all-sorts of trouble and there has been a lively domestic debate about immigration.

There’s no getting away from New Zealand’s current economic woes. GDP is around the same as it was two years ago with annual growth now at minus 1.1 per cent (and worse on a per capita basis). Both inflation and unemployment are higher than in Australia.

Immigration, and population growth in general, have also become a major debating point.

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