Kerre Woodham: ACT's immigration plan is not exactly 'ground-breaking'

It's good to see some parties releasing policies, looking at you Labour, whether you agree with them or not, given it's less than six months to the election.

ACT released its immigration policy over the weekend, a six point plan that ACT says will welcome people with shared values and who play by the rules.

ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said New Zealand was a settler society that had been built by people willing to make a journey to try and build something better, which is true, wave after wave of immigration has made New Zealand the New Zealand it is. But the six point plan, is it really designed to build a better New Zealand or is it designed to get voters to ACT? 

As in the party, not as in to galvanise voters.

Deport serious offenders, number one on the list. ACT will ensure that resident visa holders convicted of offences carrying sentences of 10 years or more will be deported, no matter how long they've been here.

Well, we already do deport a lot of people back from whence they came if they commit serious crime, and the government has a proposal to extend liability to 20 years, so that if you've been here for 20 years, you'll still get sent back. So, really? Hardly ground-breaking. 

Two, skilled visas for skilled jobs. Too often ACT says the gaps close and categories remain wide open. ACT will have each skill category automatically expire every year to remain open, so you can say, look, I need a worker, you have to prove that there is a need, you have to show up to date evidence of demand, which sounds like a lot of unnecessary paperwork and not at all like ACT.

ACT will introduce a five year welfare stand down for all residence class visa holders, no jobseeker support, accommodation supplement or income tested benefit for a migrant's first five years here. Fair.

ACT will introduce a $6 per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas on top of the existing charges. The fee is expected to raise around 80 million a year while remaining more affordable than comparable visas in Australia and the UK.

Stronger English language requirements. Lower standards will still be permitted for seasonal workers. Well, you can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink, you can lead a horticulture but you can't make it think.

You know, it's like you can demand it, and it would be nice if everybody did speak a lingua franca, but at the same time, it's the same in any migrant countries like the US, there are pockets of the US where they still speak Polish and they still speak Yiddish and they still speak Italian because that's the comfort of home. 

And, there are 21,000 non overstayers in New Zealand right now, there'll be a dedicated overstayer enforcement unit within Immigration New Zealand. Right.

Fair to say the policies have been met with eye rolling from the business and the rural community.

Immigration lawyer Queen City Law Marcus Beveridge was very dismissive when he spoke to Ryan Bridge this morning:

I just see it as it's not really worth getting out of bed for this because most of it's already here, it's superfluous, it's posturing. Minister Stanford's actually tidied most of this up already and I thought Mr Seymour could have done much better helping to refine the business categories rather than sort of dorking around with something that's already been fixed.

Well, quite, really. And somehow you expect more from ACT. No, you might not agree with it, but you expect it to be better reasoned.

Federated Farmers employment spokesperson Karl Dean talked to the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning and he says, well, it's not going to help us compete on the international stage:

I think the six bucks a day is one thing, you know, how would that look on the international stage? We struggle to get skilled migrants now, they look at Australia, they look at Canada, they choose those over New Zealand. This is another barrier. But it's also the fact of renewing or looking at the accredited work visas every year. You know, if I was a migrant looking to come into a country, I would not choose New Zealand if we had a yearly sort of allocation system.

So from the people who deal with migrants every single day, it seems to be a ho hum from them.

The biggest criticism seems to be, well, the work's already done and that we're not really in a position to dictate demands and make it difficult for migrants to come here. There are other places they can go.

We talked before about the declining birth rates in the Western world, everybody wants skilled migrants, everybody wants them, and we're not really in a position to make it more difficult for migrants to be here than it already is.

I'd love to hear from those who have applied for visas, who have applied to move to New Zealand for a better life. Is it what you thought

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Mornings podcast from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Headb Well, it's good to see some parties releasing policies
looking at you, labor, whether you agree with them or not.
Given it's less than six months to the election. Act
released its immigration policy over the weekend, a six point
plan that Act says will welcome people with shared values
and to play by the rules. ACT leader and Deputy

(00:33):
Prime Minister David Seymour said New Zealand was a settler
society that had been built by people willing to make
a journey to try and build something better. Which is true.
Wave after wave of immigration has made New Zealand to
the New Zealand it is. But the six point plan
is it really designed to build the better New Zealand

(00:56):
or is it designed to get voters to act as
in the party not as in to galvanize voters. Deport
serious effect Number one on the list. Act will ensure
that resident visa holders convicted of offenses carrying sentences of
ten years or more will be deported no matter how

(01:17):
long they've been here. Well, we already do deport a
lot of people back from whence they came. If they
commit serious crime and the current the government has a
proposal to extend liability to twenty years, so that if
you've been here for twenty years you'll still get sent back.
So really hardly groundbreaking. Two skilled visas for skilled jobs

(01:43):
too often. ACT says the gaps close and categories remain
wide open. ACT will have each skilled category automatically expire
every year to remain open. So you can say, look,
I need a worker. You have to prove that there
is a need. You have to show up to date
evidence of demand, which sounds like a lot of unnecessary paperwork,

(02:06):
not at all like ACT. ACT will introduce a five
year welfare stand down for all residents Class visa holders,
no job seeker support, accommodation supplement or income tested benefit
for a migrants first five years here Fair Act will
introduce a six dollars per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary

(02:28):
work visas on top of the existing charges. The fear
is expected to raise around eighty million a year while
remaining more affordable than comparable visas in Australia and the UK.
Stronger English language requirements lower standards will still be permitted
for seasonal workers. Well. You can lead a horse to water.

(02:54):
You can't make it drink. You can lead a horticulture,
but you can't make a think. You know. It's it's
like you can demand it. But and it would be
nice if everybody did speak a Lingua franco. But at
the same time, it's the same in any migrant countries
like the US. There are pockets of the US where
they still speak Polish and they still speak Yiddish, and

(03:15):
they still speak Italian because that's the comfort of home.
And there are twenty one thousand none over stairs in
New Zealand right now there'll be a dedicated overstay or
enforcement unit with an Immigration New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Right.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Fair to say the policies have been met with eye
rolling from the business and the rural community. Immigration lawyer
at Queen City Law and Marcus Beveridge was very dismissive
when he spoke to Ryan Bridge this morning.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
I just see it. It's not really worth getting out
of bed for this because most of it's already here
at the superfluous it's posturing. Minister Stands actually tidied most
of us up already, and I thought mister Sima could
have done much better helping to refine the business categories
rather than sort of talking around with something that's already
been fixed.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well quite really, somehow you expect more from ACT. You
might not agree with it, but you expect it to
be better reasoned. Federated Farmer's Employment spokesperson Carl Dean talked
to the mic Costing Breakfast this morning and he says, well,
it's not going to help us compete on the international stage.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Of that in this expects to day is one thing,
you know, how woud that look on the international stage.
We struggle to get skilled migrants now they look at Australia,
they look at Canada, they choose those over New Zealand.
This is another barrier, but it's also the fact of
renewing or looking at the crediteds work faces every year. Yeah,
if I was a migrant looking to come into a country,

(04:45):
I would not choose New Zealand if we had a
yearly sort of allocation system.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
So yeah, from the people who deal with migrants every
single day, it seems to be a whole harm from them.
The biggest criticism seemed to be, well, the work's already
done and that we're not really in a position to
dictate demands and make it difficult for migrants to come here.

(05:11):
There are other places they can go. We talked before
about the declining birth rates in the Western world. Everybody
wants skilled migrants. Everybody wants them, and we're not really
in a position to make it more difficult for migrants
to be here than it already is. I'd love to
hear from those who have applied for visas, who have

(05:33):
applied to move to New Zealand for a better life.
Is it what you thought it was? Does it need
to be made tougher? Do we need stronger English language requirements?
Does it make it easier to assimilate, to feel like
a Kiwi if you can speak the language. Just love

(05:53):
to hear the migrant experience and what you think, because you,
more than anybody will know what it's like to move
to a new country, to try and meet the requirements
of a new country, to try and make a new
through your home.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
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