MP Erica Stanford supports opening of international borders for students and migrant workers
National Party's MP and Immigration and education spokesperson Erica Stanford pours her hear out to Indian Weekender on issues related to education as well as Immigration.
On Being National Party's education spokesperson
It's a real honour to be on the front bench, but also to have such a significant portfolio and such a significant portfolio for our future and for our kids. At the moment, I'm a bit on a listening tour. I'm hitting around the country, I started in Christchurch, and I'll be going around the country talking to teachers, parents, and principals over the next couple of months to find out what their issues are. But I think it's pretty clear from some of the international scales that we are dropping, and we're not doing as well as we used to do. Our kids just aren't achieving to the same level as they were two decades ago is a big problem.
On the reopening of borders for international students
If you look at other countries like Australia, which are aggressively targeting international students, and we're sitting back doing nothing, we've also, you know, we've treated students pretty poorly. Looking at the students who got stuck offshore, we haven't got an excellent track record. So we've got a little bit of international reputation that needs to be fixed. But also in the global context where, you know, everyone's trying to grow their economy and their international student sector, we are going to be competing against countries like Australia and Canada. They are out there right now aggressively going after those markets where we're sitting back. I have seen some documents, though, where the government has looked like they will be starting to prioritise international students. But we need to see evidence of that, and we haven't seen anything yet.
On reopening borders for migrants workforce
Well, like our view was put out and our COVID response policy document a month or so ago where we said if you're from a low-risk country, and you have a pre-departure test negative test, and you're double vaxxed, and you test negative on arrival, then we do need to start opening up to both students but also international migrant workforce. The single biggest concern holding businesses back right now is a lack of ability to get skilled workers. And border closure has been a big part of it. So I saw just yesterday, the government has started to announce slight border exceptions for this, you know, we need 600 IT workers. This government has been announcing border exceptions for different classes of workers all year, and no one has been able to get into the country. So it doesn't matter if it's teachers, dairy farmworkers, or crane operators. The government keeps saying these people will come to the country, and no one has gotten in because MIQ is a problem. So sees big headlines, but there's no actual action. They're not either getting rid of him MIQ for these workers or setting aside space. So we end up with no workers.
On offshore stuck post-study visa holders
It's something that the minister has been told about as it brought up with him many times, and he's just refusing to address the situation. Will he extend the work visas of those post-study work visa holders stuck offshore, so they can come back and complete the time they had left on a visa, or well, he just let them run out and then have to apply for brand new work visas. I suspect what he will do is the latter, given that he's made no indication about leaving some of those post-study work visa holders back, and I have sympathy for them. They've spent a lot of money here on their education with the promise that they would have work rights in New Zealand to pay some of that debt off, but now they are not going to get the chance to do that. And I know that they're in pretty vulnerable situations.
On impending protests by those excluded in One-off residence visa
I had a zoom with the group organizing their protests just a few days ago. And I'm going to be in Wellington when they have their protests, which I believe are happening in Auckland, so I won't be able to go. But like I have said many times, I've sympathises with them. I think it is a government master trick. And in the end, if you're, say, a healthcare worker, why do we care what visa you're on? Right? Indeed, if you're a Ph.D. student, those are people we want to stay within New Zealand. I think he's he's drawn a circle around certain visa types without considering the kinds of people we want to stay in this country. And if he had put a little bit more thought into it, I think he would have had a much better policy. So we're in a situation now where we can we have, you know, someone who came to New Zealand to study and who may not even be employed may not even have a job, but just because they hold a post-study work visa, totally unemployable. Whereas if you happen to be on a partnership visa, and you're a dentist or a nurse or a doctor, you don't get results, or just, you know, there are some really weird anomalies. I don't think he thought enough.
On resuming the Parents category
In my view, I don't think from what I see that the parent category is going to come back like it used to be in terms of residents. Especially given that we've just granted residents to 165,000 people. Considering the scale of that, granting residents to parents is going to be problematic in the future. And so I don't see that resuming. But what I do see, and what I see happen overseas, is much longer multiple entry visas, parents to come and spend considerable amounts of time with their families, pets, when children are born to provide support when their children are going back to work, they can look after the grandkids, you know, just to be here in their older age, and to be with their families. So I think there is undoubtedly a case for a longer-term multiple entry visa where there are requirements for private health insurance, maybe some kind of deposit or bond or something. But also a requirement for them to maintain their residence in the country they're from. And so they have to return now and then. And I've always said, If you want the best migrants, we need to be the best. And, if we want to get that best talent, we need to allow them to bring their parents here. And I think offering some form of extended visitor visa multiple entry visa over a longer period is probably the right thing.
On future goals
We need to work out a way that we get back to businesses being able to bring in the migrant labour that they need rather than this government just offering a few little places here and there for a few vets or a few teachers or a few this, we actually need to figure out how we get workers back into as the single biggest thing we can do right now.
Secondly, there needs to be a pathway to residence. At the moment, unless you can get the one-off 21 visas, there's no other pathway to residency. So those are the sort of the two significant issues in Immigration is how do we start allowing people back in and give them some kind of idea of what the future is in this country?
Education-wise, we are sliding down the international scale. We're not where we used to be 20 years ago. We need to go back to what we used to do a knowledge base curriculum. We need to go back to some form of assessment, which includes, you know, seeing kids as they progress as well, just so that we know what is working and what is not working. But my main focus is how do we equip our kids? Now for the future? What kind of learner do we want? We also need to make sure that we clean up our education system to offer international students good quality courses.
National Party's MP and Immigration and education spokesperson Erica Stanford pours her hear out to Indian Weekender on issues related to education as well as Immigration.
On Being National Party's education spokesperson It's a real honour to be on the front bench, but also to have such a...
National Party's MP and Immigration and education spokesperson Erica Stanford pours her hear out to Indian Weekender on issues related to education as well as Immigration.
On Being National Party's education spokesperson
It's a real honour to be on the front bench, but also to have such a significant portfolio and such a significant portfolio for our future and for our kids. At the moment, I'm a bit on a listening tour. I'm hitting around the country, I started in Christchurch, and I'll be going around the country talking to teachers, parents, and principals over the next couple of months to find out what their issues are. But I think it's pretty clear from some of the international scales that we are dropping, and we're not doing as well as we used to do. Our kids just aren't achieving to the same level as they were two decades ago is a big problem.
On the reopening of borders for international students
If you look at other countries like Australia, which are aggressively targeting international students, and we're sitting back doing nothing, we've also, you know, we've treated students pretty poorly. Looking at the students who got stuck offshore, we haven't got an excellent track record. So we've got a little bit of international reputation that needs to be fixed. But also in the global context where, you know, everyone's trying to grow their economy and their international student sector, we are going to be competing against countries like Australia and Canada. They are out there right now aggressively going after those markets where we're sitting back. I have seen some documents, though, where the government has looked like they will be starting to prioritise international students. But we need to see evidence of that, and we haven't seen anything yet.
On reopening borders for migrants workforce
Well, like our view was put out and our COVID response policy document a month or so ago where we said if you're from a low-risk country, and you have a pre-departure test negative test, and you're double vaxxed, and you test negative on arrival, then we do need to start opening up to both students but also international migrant workforce. The single biggest concern holding businesses back right now is a lack of ability to get skilled workers. And border closure has been a big part of it. So I saw just yesterday, the government has started to announce slight border exceptions for this, you know, we need 600 IT workers. This government has been announcing border exceptions for different classes of workers all year, and no one has been able to get into the country. So it doesn't matter if it's teachers, dairy farmworkers, or crane operators. The government keeps saying these people will come to the country, and no one has gotten in because MIQ is a problem. So sees big headlines, but there's no actual action. They're not either getting rid of him MIQ for these workers or setting aside space. So we end up with no workers.
On offshore stuck post-study visa holders
It's something that the minister has been told about as it brought up with him many times, and he's just refusing to address the situation. Will he extend the work visas of those post-study work visa holders stuck offshore, so they can come back and complete the time they had left on a visa, or well, he just let them run out and then have to apply for brand new work visas. I suspect what he will do is the latter, given that he's made no indication about leaving some of those post-study work visa holders back, and I have sympathy for them. They've spent a lot of money here on their education with the promise that they would have work rights in New Zealand to pay some of that debt off, but now they are not going to get the chance to do that. And I know that they're in pretty vulnerable situations.
On impending protests by those excluded in One-off residence visa
I had a zoom with the group organizing their protests just a few days ago. And I'm going to be in Wellington when they have their protests, which I believe are happening in Auckland, so I won't be able to go. But like I have said many times, I've sympathises with them. I think it is a government master trick. And in the end, if you're, say, a healthcare worker, why do we care what visa you're on? Right? Indeed, if you're a Ph.D. student, those are people we want to stay within New Zealand. I think he's he's drawn a circle around certain visa types without considering the kinds of people we want to stay in this country. And if he had put a little bit more thought into it, I think he would have had a much better policy. So we're in a situation now where we can we have, you know, someone who came to New Zealand to study and who may not even be employed may not even have a job, but just because they hold a post-study work visa, totally unemployable. Whereas if you happen to be on a partnership visa, and you're a dentist or a nurse or a doctor, you don't get results, or just, you know, there are some really weird anomalies. I don't think he thought enough.
On resuming the Parents category
In my view, I don't think from what I see that the parent category is going to come back like it used to be in terms of residents. Especially given that we've just granted residents to 165,000 people. Considering the scale of that, granting residents to parents is going to be problematic in the future. And so I don't see that resuming. But what I do see, and what I see happen overseas, is much longer multiple entry visas, parents to come and spend considerable amounts of time with their families, pets, when children are born to provide support when their children are going back to work, they can look after the grandkids, you know, just to be here in their older age, and to be with their families. So I think there is undoubtedly a case for a longer-term multiple entry visa where there are requirements for private health insurance, maybe some kind of deposit or bond or something. But also a requirement for them to maintain their residence in the country they're from. And so they have to return now and then. And I've always said, If you want the best migrants, we need to be the best. And, if we want to get that best talent, we need to allow them to bring their parents here. And I think offering some form of extended visitor visa multiple entry visa over a longer period is probably the right thing.
On future goals
We need to work out a way that we get back to businesses being able to bring in the migrant labour that they need rather than this government just offering a few little places here and there for a few vets or a few teachers or a few this, we actually need to figure out how we get workers back into as the single biggest thing we can do right now.
Secondly, there needs to be a pathway to residence. At the moment, unless you can get the one-off 21 visas, there's no other pathway to residency. So those are the sort of the two significant issues in Immigration is how do we start allowing people back in and give them some kind of idea of what the future is in this country?
Education-wise, we are sliding down the international scale. We're not where we used to be 20 years ago. We need to go back to what we used to do a knowledge base curriculum. We need to go back to some form of assessment, which includes, you know, seeing kids as they progress as well, just so that we know what is working and what is not working. But my main focus is how do we equip our kids? Now for the future? What kind of learner do we want? We also need to make sure that we clean up our education system to offer international students good quality courses.
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