Fewer Singaporeans heading to Australia

Spotted this in the papers today. When the Singapore economy was in the doldrums, more people left for Australia. As we rebounded economically the traffic to Australia fell markedly.

So much noise against too rapid growth, but I say action speaks louder words.

I spent a large part of yesterday exploring taking a holiday to New Zealand south island. We haven't been back since twenty years ago and remembered fondly our time at Queenstown. Fortunately I took a little walk using Google Maps and we changed our mind about this trip. The lesson learnt a few years ago when we took the kids to Brisbane taught me to be more thorough. We remembered being impressed with Queen Street Mall when we visited in 1989, but in 2005, we were disappointed at how staid and boring the place was. The museum was also under whelming. Singapore Orchard Road and our museums had zoomed far ahead of them. It is a real life lesson for us that we mustn't stay still but must always progress.

There is not such thing as too rapid economic growth. What we must be mindful of is what we are willing to give up for additional growth. We must never trade our values for additional wealth. Willie Cheng had an excellent article on this topic in the ST yesterday, 'When market values rule society'.

Update: October 29
Someone left as a comment a very interesting blog post: http://asingaporeanson.blogspot.sg/2012/10/the-truth-behind-singaporeans-becoming.html

Typically I don't respond to comments and that's why this isn't entered as a comment either.

Mine is causal and lazy fellow blog and I typically just write what's on my mind. Not a serious blog where the writer researches, thought deeply and then write. In this instance, I have made a quick check and read several articles preferring the latest date ones. Here is something noteworthy: immigration to Australia has gone up. See: Australia Migration Rates increase 18%.

And here is a non Aussie source: the Indian Economic Times. It is about attracting HNI entrepreneurs from India.

I hadn't bother to look beyond what I originally posted because I have come across too many instances of Australians applying to come here. One of them used to report to wifey too.

As a rule of thumb most of us cannot afford the time to research thoroughly when there is no sacred principles or money on the table.