Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Winston Peters is beating the predictable immigration drum

Winston’s back, banging the trusty old immigration drum. Election next year, so no surprises there.

Nor should there be any surprise that National’s keen to keep skilled workers in the country. It’s what business wants. And, generally speaking, what business wants - with a Government right-of-centre - it gets.

So before we go barking mad on migration, let’s look at the facts.

Is this an Oprah car competition, carte blanche residency lolly scramble? No.

The numbers? Somewhere between 3,500 and 9,000 people. Which barely touches the sides of our 4.3 million working-age population.

Will they flood in from all corners of the earth? No. They’re already here. You have to be working here in order to qualify and proven yourself. You have to be well-paid - at least $36 an hour - and qualified. This is not a low-rent crowd.

Is this a back door into Australia? Well, it can be. But to get through that door, you first have to become a citizen of New Zealand.

Let’s call that a 10 year process, plus the Minister reckons a further four across the ditch before you’re a citizen there. So if you’re willing to spend 14 years gaming the system to become a citizen of Australia, you probably deserve it in my book.

Is this, as Winston's press release claimed, another example of our proud wee country being fleeced by take-all-give-nothing migrants? We train them up and look after them, then they ditch us across the ditch?

No. These people are already trained and experienced and they will pay taxes like the rest of us.

Does he have a point on the wider problem we have with educating and training people who are actually born here? Yes.

But as even he points out, Governments of all stripes have been trying to fix that problem for decades and the fix remains elusive.

But in the meantime, why punish decent Kiwi businesses who’ve managed to find themselves a decent, skilled worker?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Winston's back banging is trusty old immigration drum election year.
So no surprise is there, nor should there be any
surprise though, with the rest of the coalition keen to
keep skilled workers in this country. It's what business wants,
and generally speaking, what business wants with a government right
of center it gets. So before we go barking mad
on migration, let's take a look at the facts, shall we.

(00:21):
Is this an OPRAH car competition, carte blanche residency lolly scramble. No,
the numbers somewhere between three and a half thousand and
nine thousand people, which barely touches the sides on our
four point three million working age population. Will they all
flood in from all corners of the earth. No, they're
already here. You have to be working here. In order

(00:42):
to qualify, you have to have proven yourself. You have
to be well paid, at least thirty six bucks an
hour qualified. This is not a low rent crowd coming in.
Is this a backdoor into Australia, Well it can be.
But to get through that door you first have to
become a citizen of New Zealand. Let's call that a
ten year process. Plus the Minister reckons a further four

(01:04):
across the ditch before you'll be a citizen there. So
if you're willing to spend fourteen years gaming assistant to
become a citizen of Australia, I think you probably deserve it.
Is this, as Winston Peters press release claim today, another
example of our proudweed country being fleeced by take all,
give nothing migrants. We train them up, he says, We

(01:25):
look after them and then they ditch us across the ditch. Well, no,
these people are already trained and experienced, and they will
pay taxes like the rest of us. Does he have
a point on the wider problem that we have with
educating and training people who are actually born here. Yes,
But as even he points out, governments of all stripes

(01:47):
have been trying to fix that problem for decades. The
fix remains elusive. But in the meantime, why punish decent
Kiwi businesses who've managed to find themselves a decent skilled worker.
Welcome to globalization. We sell stuff to the world, using
in part a global workforce to do it. For more

(02:09):
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