Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader

1 August 2013

Come Home from China and Sort Out Your Immigration Mess!

Immigration Minister Woodhouse should sort out the flood of parental reunion immigration applications before he touts for more business in China, says Rt Hon Winston Peters.

New Zealand First revealed in Parliament yesterday that 5,500 parental reunion applications have been stockpiled at Immigration New Zealand because the Government is trying to conceal the number of parental reunion cases.

“The Minister is in China courtesy of China Southern Airlines, which is part of the Government’s shonky fast tracked visa scheme to allow Chinese gamblers quick access to Sky City Casino.

“Instead of fixing the immigration mess, the Minister and his government are a major part of the problem and have created serious risk management issues with the way they have fast tracked student and work visas.”

Mr Peters says the parental reunion category is creating a huge immigration imbalance because of China’s one child policy.

“The Minister knows this and that is why the applications are being stockpiled and will be slipped through when no one is watching.

“It is not fair on taxpayers to have thousands of people coming into the country to receive New Zealand superannuation after only ten years and to free load on the health and welfare system as soon as they have been processed.

“Rather than criticise New Zealand First for revealing inconvenient truths about immigration policy he should be explaining what his real agenda in China is. If it’s further concessions to China Southern Airlines and more visas the New Zealand public has a right to know,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

© Scoop Media