New research has found that Maori migrating to Australia are more likely to be drawn across the Tasman during economic boom times.
Paul Hamer, who is studying trans-Tasman migration of Maori and why they come and go, says it is a cycle that happens every 10 years and last big surge to Australia from New Zealand happened in the mid-2000s.
Mr Hamer says in 2008 for example, Maori made up 28.1% of the New Zealand-born migrants who arrived in Australia in that year.
He says by 2011, that number was increasing as more and more Maori were attracted to higher paying jobs such as in the Western Australian mines and the warmer weather and better lifestyle the country offered.
Mr Hamer says conversely, when times are not so good in Australia, Maori are more likely to return to New Zealand, which he's observed in the higher proportion of tangata whenua who came back in 2013.