United Future: NZ needs sensible immigration & population policies

United Future New Zealand leader, Peter Dunne, today repeated his party’s consistent call for New Zealand to develop and implement a sensible and balanced immigration and population policy.

“We support immigration to this country; we believe it is beneficial for New Zealand economically, culturally and socially,” he said, “It should be viewed as a national asset, not a social welfare liability. But we should be doing it better.”

Mr Dunne reiterated the party’s immigration policy, which includes the goals of;

· Setting a minimum of 60,000 immigration approvals a year to achieve a net annual immigration gain of 10,000

· Providing right of entry to any person with a parent born in New Zealand

· Removing the present restrictive and discriminatory English language test, to be replaced by a standard English test specified by the migrant’s employer

· Devising new, comprehensive migrant settlement programmes, in consultation with the Federation of Ethnic Councils. These programmes would run for 12 months after the migrants’ arrival and would ensure they receive full information and support on all aspects of New Zealand society, including language, customs, access to employment and health and social services.

· Making English as a Second Language (ESL) resources available to schools on the basis of need.

· Providing additional staffing resources to the Immigration Service to meet customer demand, especially at Auckland and pressure points overseas.

· Encouraging more foreign students to study in New Zealand and enable them to gain permanent residence once they have graduated and found permanent employment in New Zealand.

“As can be seen from these objectives, United Future believes we should do a lot more to re-settle migrants after they get here. It is simply not good enough to welcome them at the airport, pat them on the head and then abandon them.

“We strongly reject the inflammatory and divisive policies of New Zealand First, as unacceptable in a free society. Anyone who says we can welcome migrants while asking them to leave their culture and language at the airport is both historically blind and extremely naïve in the ways of human beings. As a trading nation, we live in a global environment. It is not an option to raise the drawbridge and throw rocks at our neighbours,” said Mr Dunne.

© Scoop Media