Newman: Labour's Pacific recruitment ridiculous

Monday 21 Feb 2005

Dr Muriel Newman - Press Releases - Other

ACT Welfare spokesman Dr Muriel Newman today labelled the Labour Department's recruitment of nearly 100 Samoans for bus driving and prison officer jobs in New Zealand as ridiculous.

"In New Zealand we have 94,000 adults registered as unemployed with WINZ, yet we are actively looking off-shore for workers. It makes no sense."

Dr Newman said Labour's first option should have been to offer training and support to New Zealand's unemployed so Kiwis can carry out these medium-skilled jobs

"It is simply outrageous that Helen Clark and Labour are so soft-on-welfare that they are happy to ignore 94,000 unemployed New Zealanders, and instead recruit 100 Samoan workers for jobs Kiwis could easily do."

"It is even more outrageous that Helen Clark's government should view this as a success, and that the Labour Department should be contemplating recruiting more overseas workers from Pacific countries.

"Helen Clark cannot convince anyone that there's not 100 Kiwis among the 94,000 unemployed who could not be trained to drive buses or perform the duties of prison guards."

"Labour's soft-on-welfare approach is rife. We're led to believe the numbers are falling, however WINZ has 11,400 people who have been registered unemployed for over four years, up from 10,500 when Labour came to office.

"Labour may lock in a few votes by recruiting overseas Pacific workers, but the Government is failing in its duties to the New Zealand unemployed," said Dr Newman.

ENDS

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