When I lived in Queensland from the 70s to 90s, people were moving from New South Wales, Victoria and other places to Queensland. We called them Mexicans. Most were looking for sunshine, less populated areas, and reduced costs of living, especially for housing. Taxes were never an issue since taxes across Australia are pretty much the same.
Between 1988 and 1991 I managed the business and computing department at the Bundaberg TAFE College and had, from memory, five people approach me about jobs in computing. Their stories were the same. They'd moved from Sydney to escape large cohorts of immigrants, too much traffic and high costs of housing.
They could buy a decent house for $100,000 in Bundaberg and after selling their lower quality Sydney house for much more, live a lovely life near the Queensland coast. Unfortunately, they didn't do their homework regarding jobs. The region had very high unemployment and hardly any job vacancies at the time.
Now we have a situation in Victoria where a socialist government has become more totalitarian than people want and has passed legislation that is, by any measure, apparently draconian. The state has become a Police State during the currently ongoing Covid-19 crisis and the legislation is a harbinger of things to come. People are worried.
I expect that there will be more than the usual number of people "escaping" Victoria's harsh regime for states with less oppressive regimes. Time will tell. Watch this space.
Robin
