More Australians than ever are leaving to join the global workforce and most won't come back. Kate Nancarrow reports.
Melbourne-born, London-based money dealer Steve Pruscino has lived in Europe for six years. He owns a house in Dulwich, sounds more English than Australian and, with wife Sarah, is about to have his first child who, presumably, will become a little English person.
Pruscino, 32, said: "Australia is a nice place. There's absolutely no reason I wouldn't retire there."
It's just that while he's young and ambitious he'd rather live in London. He is a man of his era, in a generation whose anthem could be: "I love a sunburnt country, but I'd really rather live and work elsewhere."
Pruscino, who leads seven traders in the London office of a US finance firm, said: "I sit on a trading floor that's got three or four hundred people on it. There are a couple of thousand people working in the building. When you're working in London you're interacting with Europe, with New York, with Asia. In Australia, everything is on a much smaller scale."
And don't imagine that Pruscino hates living in London.
He said: "There is always something going on in London. You can be on a plane for two hours and be in a different country, culture and climate. The cheap air fares from London are amazing."
His wife, Sarah Pruscino, also Australian, transferred to Cadbury Schweppes's London headquarters from Melbourne in 1998 and now works for drinks manufacturer Diageo in human resources. She, like her husband, has found it exciting to be in "a bigger market, to be exposed to more".
Pressed on the "awfulness" of raising their children away from the great Australian lifestyle and grandparents who would adore them, Steve doesn't falter. "Our child will be exposed to an array of experiences; Australia is not going to be able to provide more for my child."
Almost one million Australians live overseas and those abandoning their homeland are some of its brightest stars.
Figures from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs reveal the number of Australians moving overseas on a permanent or long-term basis has grown steadily from 74,000 a year in 1993 to almost 120,000 last year, many heading to the commercial hot spots of London, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Frankfurt.
When almost 70 per cent of those leaving are professionals, managers and administrators, then governments take notice. And immediately announce a senate inquiry, calling for submissions from those expats, which is exactly what the Howard Government has done.
The inquiry which begins taking submissions this month, is trying to discover why so many Australians are moving abroad, what it means for our future and what governments can do to reverse the trend. University of Adelaide demographer Graeme Hugo identified the growing number of Australian emigres back in 1994 and has watched it rise since. He is reluctant to label the exodus a brain drain but suggests the departures of bright young things means that they are "really, really high achievers who could make a difference if they were here".
Businesswoman Mary Covatta is in her eighth year in Hong Kong and wild horses couldn't drag her back home.
Covatta runs her own public relations company and while she loves Australia's fresh air, food and "the great Aussie lifestyle", almost everything about Australia's business culture drives her nuts. "You need to ask why all these people are going overseas? Look at Invest Hong Kong, that's the investment promotions arm of the Hong Kong Government. They are active in getting people to set up businesses and promoting the country. The opportunities are amazing.
"It's the mentality and culture here. Everyone wants to do well. They seek business opportunities and network. People are always looking to do deals.
"I say to people you need to be always presentable. You don't know who'll be in the queue next to you at the Welcome Mart."
When she first arrived in Hong Kong, the speed of business shocked her. "You'd meet someone and they'd want a proposal by 4pm. In Australia, it'd be in three weeks. Now it's back to hours, minutes.
"There are a number of opportunities in Australia but I find that the government cuts you no breaks. And there's a mentality of cutting people down that you just don't see in Hong Kong."
Ten years older than Covatta, and with an extra decade's absence from Australia, New York-based playwright and teacher Lis Fairley finds herself increasingly torn about Australia.
Raised on a wheat farm near Perth, Fairley studied in Perth and Melbourne before relocating to New York with her then partner, who wanted to try his luck at the New York bar. Long-divorced, both have remarried Americans and share the care of their teenage children.
After nearly 20 years in "the most exciting city in the world" she has found herself struggling with a longing to return home. "My father died nearly three years ago and I went back to WA and walked where I'd walked as a child and spent a lot of time with my mother who seemed to have grown old overnight. I found it unbearable leaving her. And there was something about the scent of the eucalyptus and the sky that I longed for when I returned here."
So why not just pack up and move? "Well, my children are American for a start. They think the whole of Australia is like Oklahoma - worth seeing once but why would you do it twice?"
She laughs when asked what she misses about the Australian lifestyle.
"My sister lives in Florence and we've talked about this. You mean walking along endless beaches with thousands of flies chasing you. Is that a lifestyle? It's great for a weekend but not for a lifetime."
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