Immigration New Zealand could really benefit from an large investment of money, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI), a leading voice in the immigration sector.

“Instead of spending $25m on the 'Maritime Mass Arrival Prevention' initiative, the Government needs to urgently sort out the service issues at Immigration NZ,” she says.

“I believe Government has offered this sum to appease Australia over border security funding. However, our Government knows full well they may not need to use it. Where is the solid action plan on how these funds will be used?”

Ms Ranson suggests giving the extra funding to Navy and Fishery Inspectors who are on patrol at sea.

“They are at the coal face and they can identify people smugglers and stop them. The idea of having people dotted around Asia is a waste of money. While we definitely want to protect our borders surely a percentage of the sum could be put to better use to sort out Immigration NZ issues.”

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Double Standard That’s Bound To Dominate The Election

Are National really better political managers than Labour, particularly when it comes to running the economy? For many voters – and the business community in particular - their belief in National’s inherent competence is a simple act of faith. (For them, centre- left governments are just a temporary aberration by misguided voters, to be tolerated only until business-as-usual can be resumed.) Routinely for instance, the business confidence surveys continue to perpetuate the myth that National are the only prudent stewards of the economy. By and large, the business confidence surveys have been an outlet for the sustained temper tantrum felt by business leaders at the election result of 2017, rather than providing a rational assessment of the actual economic conditions. More>>

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