Australia's budget is being praised as an example of "investing in people" which Labour says is totally lacking in New Zealand.

Party leader David Shearer says the success Australian headhunters had at the weekend Oz Jobs Expo in Auckland is further evidence of the way the government is wrecking the economy.

"Australia is balancing its books as well as investing in its people, its budget took aim at inequity," he said on Monday.

"The Australian government is investing in innovative industry to spread the benefits of its economic boom."

Mr Shearer says Finance Minister Bill English will deliver a zero budget next week and the government is offering up New Zealand as the Pacific's low-wage destination.

About 6000 people packed the expo, the third in 18 month, held just days after it was revealed the trans-Tasman brain drain reached a record 53,000 in the year to February.

Many of those at the expo said they were fed up with the lack of decent jobs at home, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Young job seeker Joanne Frew said she wanted to move because the government wasn't focused on creating better jobs and affordable housing.

The political science graduate said she had been working as a receptionist since graduating in 2009 and her pay isn't much better than what a high school dropout gets.

Engineer Kamal Shenmar, 32, said he moved to New Zealand from India five years ago and his skills weren't valued here.

He earns about $35,000 a year and thinks he can earn twice as much in Australia.