Minister, your ship is sinking!
Fact: More Kiwis than ever are heading across to live in Australia
Fact: We are losing people who were born, and migrated, here
Labour's Immigration Minister needs to rethink his opinion that our current immigration situation is satisfactory. Last week, he crowed that New Zealand had 'gained' 12,000 migrants for the 12 months ending March but chose to ignore the latest available figures.
In April 2007, we only gained 100 people. According to Statistics New Zealand the 10,100 migrants we gained for the year ending April is below the annual average of 12,200 recorded between 1990 and 2006.
If we take a closer look at the rosy March figures the Immigration Minister quoted from, it shows that there is a net loss of migrants from China, Japan and the UK, particularly in the quarterly comparison. In fact, the overall number of Asians moving to New Zealand has been in freefall since Labour introduced their anti-Asian immigration policies in 2002.
Locals and migrants are both the same - unless they are retired they want opportunities. The growing income gap between New Zealand and Australia, Europe's high wages and Asia's growing economies all beckon.
Another reason why the Immigration Minister is painting such a rosy picture is to divert attention away from Immigration NZ, the gateway for migrants. His department is in a complete and utter shambles and the Government is desperately trying to hide this from everyone with smoke and mirrors.
Business migration has dried up so much that the unit dedicated to processing business applications has now started processing family, and other, applications. The Minister hasn't been able to explain why but puts it down to 'not having a backlog of applications'. You can't put a spin on the fact that business migrants don't find New Zealand immigration policies to be an attractive proposition!
Labour has also killed off the investor category with its ridiculous policy changes. Now, potential investors have to have a minimum of $2 million, which has to be given to the Government to invest with returns only at the rate of inflation, and the English language requirements are far too high. All in all, these rules have turned investors off.
For the 2003/2004 year, according to Immigration New Zealand, 5,654 investor applications were decided by Immigration NZ, bringing millions of dollars into the country. This financial year that number has dropped to 227.
I have also been told that the staff turnover at frontline Immigration NZ branches in Wellington and Auckland is extremely high due to the inexperience of, and poor training of, staff. If you had four days of training would you be able to issue a visa adequately? Not only does this affect applicants, but businesses are also being compromised because they can't hold open jobs for 6-8 weeks while inexperienced staff decide whether or not to issue a visa.
I have asked the Minister why staff turnover is so high, but he fobbed the issue off to the Chief Executive. He won't be able to run when he's asked the same questions by the select committee considering his department's planned spending for the new financial year.
Last year the Minister told a conference full of immigration advisors that he would be announcing a new Investor category by Christmas 2006. That date has come and gone and we are yet to see anything. Since then the Minister has continued to evade answering questions about his promise.
It's no wonder the ship is slowly sinking because the captain is turning a blind eye to the water leaking through the holes.
Responsible approach to Asian gambling
You may have heard about Sky City's move to shower attention on Asian patrons because of their growing numbers.
While much has been said about this issue, one fact remains clear - Sky City needs to take into account their role as a responsible host as well as the well-being of their Asian patrons.
There is already a level of concern amongst our Asian communities about the problems that gambling addiction brings.
