There are about 30,000 New Zealanders settling in Australia each year. A large percentage of this number chose the Gold Coast as their residence.

However, the Oz Kiwi movement among Gold Coast's NZ ex-pat community discovered that Kiwis setting in the Gold Coast have no protection to access social security payments and education funding. This situation resulted from strict immigration laws which make it harder for Kiwis to gain Australian citizenship or permanent residents.

Hence, Gold Coast New Zealanders appeal for an immigration law change claiming that rough law restricts long-term residents from enjoying the same rights as Australians, Goldcost.com reported.

According to an Oz Kiwi online petition, the Australian Government denied migrating New Zealanders rights to DisabilityCare, Free-help, student loans, voting, social security payments and the ability to become an Australian. New Zealanders were even denied rights to join the defence force following a repeal of the defence laws on February of 2011.

Jenny Evans, a resident of Helensvale and an ex-pat from New Zealand is one among the many Kiwis aiming have the Kiwi-Australian equality issue as one of the political agenda for the coming federal election.

According to Ms Evans, those Kiwis setting in Australia were unprotected and denied of financial assistance when they become unemployed or if they wanted to expand their studies. There were Kiwi families who were compelled to send their children back in New Zealand to study in the university because they did not qualify for student loans in Australia, which should not always be the case.

Ms Evans said, "Thousands of good Kiwis who work and support the Gold Coast and the country with their taxes are getting nothing back... it is discrimination and wrong. I have been here for eight years but am not able to access any social support services and I don't have the right to vote. It is harder to become an Australian citizen unless you meet the skills requirement and if you're over 45, you barely have a chance."

Also, children born in Australia to New Zealand parents need to be living in the country for ten years before they become citizens.

The petition also pointed out that even NZ-born actor Russel Crowe who did not qualify for citizenship despite growing up in Australia.

Kiwis who were appealing for equal rights were also motivated by the fact that those Australians seeking citizenship in New Zealand do not experience the unfairness that they were experiencing.

In a January 2013 article from New Zealand Herald, journalists Michael Dickinson and Greg Ansley detailed the disparity between Kiwis living in Australia and Australians living in New Zealand.

New Zealanders living in Australia are experiencing the following disparity:

  • Excluded from Newstart benefits, parenting payments and youth allowance
  • Kiwis living in Australia continuously for 10 years since February 2001 might be eleigible for once-only Newstart and youth allowances for up to six months
  • Are not entitled to Austudy and HELP student loans, whether on protected or non-protected SCVs.
  • Are excluded from the new Disability Insurance Scheme, including children of NZ parentage born in Australia.
  • Cannot receive disability support pension for non-work-related disabilities developed while living in Australia.
  • Excluded from new payments for Australian residents injured by terrorist attacks abroad.
  • Have no automatic path to permanent residency or citizenship and are required to compete with other migrants on the basis of required skills.
  • Excluded from disability support services in Queensland, which is now amending anti-discrimination laws to allow exclusion of New Zealanders.
  • Do not have access to public housing in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales, which also now refuses Kiwis emergency accommodation.
  • Have been excluded from student concessionary travel in Victoria, including primary and secondary school pupils and extending to all New Zealanders regardless of date of arrival. This is now subject to anti-discrimination case.

While Australians in New Zealand had the following privileges:

  • Can apply for all Winz payments including disability assistance and allowances, domestic purposes benefits, accommodation supplement, childcare assistance, health-related benefits, sickness benefits, temporary additional support, unemployment benefit, disaster relief recovery payments.
  • Unlike expat Kiwi victims of floods and Cyclone Yasi, Australians in Christchurch qualified for the same earthquake assistance as new Zealanders.
  • After two years are eligible for tertiary student allowances and can apply for student loans.
  • After three years' residence can apply for citizenship.