Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
27 APRIL 2016

Common Tourist Visas with Australia Unlikely

A common tourist visa with Australia is almost as likely as Australia ignoring our weak record on migration to restore “first cousin” status, says New Zealand First.

“Sadly our lax approach on immigration has seriously impaired the status of Kiwis living in Australia, regrettably hundreds of thousands in Australia are treated as second class. In fact one of the principle reasons Kiwis are returning from Australia is because they dislike their recent status.

“Out of 3.1 million tourist arrivals here in 2015, only 1,231 people were refused entry - that’s a daily average of just three people from 8,500 arrivals. The rubber stamp must be close to melting given our Grant of Visa Rate of 99.96%.

“In comparison Australia’s tourist Grant Rate is 91.6%, so either we have a better class of tourist, or thousands of suspect people are being allowed into our country.

“If New Zealand had Australia’s Grant Rate for Chinese tourists, which is 94.2%, we would have refused over 2,346 Chinese nationals’ entry in just March alone. Yet in all of 2015, only 79 Chinese nationals were refused entry into New Zealand. Perhaps that’s what the Chinese president talked to Mr Key about recently when demanding the return of 60 Chinese nationals from New Zealand to China for alleged corruption.

“It’s clear New Zealand doesn’t know with precision who we are allowing in and Australia is not about to lower its standard to match New Zealand’s which would be essential for a common tourist visa policy.

ENDS

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