Erica Stanford: Immigration Minister chats increasing discourse

The Association of Migration and Investment Conference is going on right now prompting significant political debate about immigration policy ahead of the election. 

NZ First wants to restrict birthright citizenship and prevent asylum seekers from accessing work, while Labour wants to introduce a citizenship pathway for children born to undocumented parents and a longer permanent residency process.

ACT would change New Zealand's residence system by removing the existing Permanent Resident Visa category, whereas the Greens want to end 12-month stand-down periods requiring workers to leave the country between visas, and allow migrant workers to change jobs.

Current Immigration Minister Erica Stanford told Andrew Dickens that National's policy will be revealed soon, and it will be 'more of the same that you've seen in the last 3 years.'

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, big debates around immigration today. Why? It's because the
Association of Migration and Investment Conference is going on right
now and the politicians are turning up and they're saying
their thoughts and they're telling us their policy. Labour wants
to focus on migrant exploitation and better integration of the
migrants who come here. New Zealand First have come out swinging,
calling for a 10-year welfare ban for non-citizens, a referendum

(00:24):
to cap visa numbers at 20,000, And the immigration portfolio
has to go to a New Zealand first person, presumably Winston,
if the right wins the election and they're part of
the coalition. So joining us now to talk about this
is the person who currently has the job, Immigration Minister
Erica Stamford.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hello, Erica.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Hello.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Very good. Was there anything in those policies that you
would consider?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
There's a few things in there that, you know, relatively
good ideas, but for the most part, it's just this
usual thing that happens with immigration right before an election,
this massive swing of ideas, you know, from huge restrictions
on the one hand with ACT and New Zealand First
and that same group and even Labour a little bit,
right through to this liberalisation where the Greens are going,

(01:10):
any health condition you have, don't worry about it, come
on in. And so, you know, we're just a bit
more pragmatic. We've done a huge amount of good work
in the last three years to get things under control
because we did inherit an absolute mess with immigration running.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
At $ 134, 000. So what's your vision for immigration policy for
the next three years?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
We're going to be putting out our policy not all
on the same day with the other parties, which has
been quite useful. It's coming. But what you can expect
from us is more of the same that you've seen
in the last three years. We realise you've got a
couple of things to do. You've got to balance out
putting New Zealanders first for jobs while making sure that
employers can get access to the skills and talent that
they need when they're unable to access a Kiwi. But

(01:53):
a lot more pragmatic and sensible. swings from highly restrictive
to highly liberal.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
So this is the time when everyone says their policies
and their policies never get watered down. But here's the thing.
ACT got some big stuff on the treaty through at
the last coalition negotiations. So won't you have to bow
to some of Winston's policies if you want to govern?

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, there are some questions that need to be asked
around those policies. You can put a cap on resident
class visas. First thing I would ask is, well, who
are you capping? Because 11,000 people a year come in
because they're marrying a Kiwi. You've got another 10,000 people
coming in who are on the straight to residence green

(02:34):
list pathway. That's our nurses, our teachers, our doctors, our engineers.
And then there's another 8,000 skilled. You've got 3,000 work
to residence. That's our ECE teachers. You've got the Pacific
Access category. You've got the AIP, the Golden Visa people.
That's 2,500. When you start to add all that up,
the question for Winston is, Who are you saying no to?
Are you going to say no to a Kiwi who's

(02:55):
just fallen in love with a German? I'm sorry, we've
reached our cap. You have to sit in a queue
for the next 10 years. We have to ask some
serious questions about what you mean about restricting things.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
What's your thoughts on this? Because Winston seems to think
that the only way you can get super, the only
way you should be able to get benefits, and in fact,
the only way you should be able to get the
vote is if you are a citizen of this country.
And speaking as someone who is a permanent resident and
is not yet a citizen and hasn't been bothered to
spend the $ 641 to get the pass bill and do
that sort of thing, he's saying to me as a

(03:26):
50-year taxpayer that I'm not entitled to any of these
other benefits, even though I have significantly contributed. Do you
have to be a citizen to be a New Zealander?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, that's a very good question, and we haven't said
that before. I think that we're talking about restricting voting
right through to being a citizen as well. One of
the distinct advantages we have as a country is our
permanent resident visa. There aren't other countries who have something
similar to us. And it is a real attraction. It
means that we can get the best of the best

(04:00):
and foot it against countries like Australia and Canada and
the UK because of that status. And you do have
people who have been here for most of their lives
on a permanent resident visa like yourself who have contributed significantly.
that we're now going to turn around and say, well, sorry,
you can't access a whole lot of things and you
can't vote. And essentially having a second class, you know,

(04:21):
tiered citizenship, you know, either it's citizen or you're a
person that we'd love your contribution, thank you, but you
can't have these benefits. So I think we need to
think really carefully before we start knee jerking these policies,
which can be, you know, it's all very well to
say them at election time, but we need to think
carefully about them before we go around, you know, promising them.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Erica, thank you for your time today and up the waz.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Up the waz, thank you.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
It's 12 after five.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
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