Comment by ykonstant

This must be one reason (not Australian, but have friends there), but more importantly it seems to me the "better opportunities" are much, much better. Australia seems to have worker rights that make most of the US look decent by comparison while wages remain far below the latter---and I don't mean just US hot spots: an Australian friend went from Sydney to Salt Lake City (!) to get a much better job with much higher compensation and better rights/environment. In Utah!