Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
19 AUGUST 2016

Govt Sits on Hands While Immigration Soars

Immigration remains far too high, and public services continue to be overloaded, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“The latest immigration figures will be of no comfort to the tens of thousands seeking to buy a home, obtain meaningful and adequate employment, or to hospitals and doctors who have too many patients queuing for treatment as a result of record immigration and cost cutting by this government.

“In figures just released New Zealand had a net gain of 69,000 in the July year, only 100 less than the June year. This amounts to a 24 record month of immigration which the government like some absurd King Canut refuses to respond to.

“In the month of July there are still over 186 immigrants a day.

“Auckland and now other areas are suffering from a shortage of houses and sky high rents. Over half the immigrants settled in the Super City.

“To use immigration to depress wages through job competition and prop up artificial consumption is not an economic policy but a recipe for economic disaster unfolding monthly before our eyes.

“Every month that goes by with the government refusing to respond with a common sense policy, that is in the interests of all New Zealanders, is probably six future months longer in seeking to redress this appalling demand and supply mismatch – a basic concept which this so-called free market government shows no understanding of.”

ENDS

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