Who will Kiwi-Indians give the tick?
The Labour Party’s much-awaited announcement of immigration policy this week reminded everyone that general elections are just round the corner prompting everyone to think which colour will Kiwi-Indians favour – red or blue?
It is not the intention of this piece to suggest or pre-empt in any way which side Kiwi-Indians will eventually end up voting on September 23.
That is something that cannot be ascertained before the evening of September 23.
However, one important question that needs immediate attention today is whether the Labour Party will succeed in regaining the popular support of Kiwi-Indians which they enjoyed during the heyday of the Helen Clark-Phil Goff leadership.
Indeed, there will not be an iota of doubt in the fact that Kiwi-Indians have traditionally supported and voted for the Labour Party – something that has radically changed in the past nine years of National Party being at the helm of affairs.
The fact that the National Party took the lead in sending the first and eventually two Kiwi-Indian MPs to the parliament before any other political party in New Zealand did not help in Labour’s receding influence and connection with the community.
Nevertheless, it is to the credit to Andrew Little, the current Labour leader who by his own admission was committed to reverse this lacuna and had succeeded in nominating Priyanca Radhakrishnan high in the party list ensuring that she becomes the first India born Kiwi-Indian MP in the Labour caucus.
Will that be enough to revive Kiwi-Indians’ mana with the Labour party is something to be seen in the future?
For now, we have to depend on Labour’s policy offerings to Kiwi-Indians to presuppose their preference in the upcoming elections and the recent immigration policy announcement offers a good starting point.
The party has made an audacious announcement of cutting down immigration numbers in the range of 25-30,000 with international students taking the maximum brunt.
While the Trump-effect was expected to echo on immigration in some measure, few would have anticipated a proposal to cull immigrant numbers on this scale.
However, the fact that Andrew Little and the Labour Party had largely escaped from creating much sensationalism after announcing such a massive cut also deserve some accolades.
The Party has surely done some homework before laying out its immigration policy announcement to escape from the resultant backlash that generally follows after such a big announcement.
Anyway, how will the voters receive this policy is the question of the day.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has to provide some answers to the questions arising from their massive cut in immigration numbers.
First, as Prime Minister Bill English has said that international students do not purchase houses, thus contesting Labour’s premise that they are contributing to Auckland’s housing crisis.
Second, how does the Labour Party propose to fill the tentative revenue gap of $750 million that these 25,000 international students bring to New Zealand?
For now, Andrew Little has countered Indian Weekender’s question on these numbers by saying, “Our modelling shows that the loss of revenue would be in the order of tens of millions and not hundreds of millions.”
To this, it is submitted that the Labour Party might have to do a little bit more in justifying its claim and possibly come out with those numbers in the open, which in the end will also help its own narrative. Till that happens, voters might want to persist with numbers available in the public domain. $750 million is a big loss of revenue to be accounted for.
Last but not the least, many employers in our communities especially from industries such as hospitality are finding it hard to comprehend the fallout from a massive reduction in immigrants as their businesses continues to suffer from a dearth of an employable workforce.
Undoubtedly, every general election has different key issues, and for Kiwi-Indians this year the main issues are law and order, health, housing and immigration.
The fact that Indian Weekender is an immigrant community newspaper makes us supportive of immigration – though not reckless immigration and it is yet to be proven beyond doubt that current immigration levels are imprudent and warranting a knee-jerk reaction.
The Labour Party’s much-awaited announcement of immigration policy this week reminded everyone that general elections are just round the corner prompting everyone to think which colour will Kiwi-Indians favour – red or blue?
It is not the intention of this piece to suggest or pre-empt in any way...
The Labour Party’s much-awaited announcement of immigration policy this week reminded everyone that general elections are just round the corner prompting everyone to think which colour will Kiwi-Indians favour – red or blue?
It is not the intention of this piece to suggest or pre-empt in any way which side Kiwi-Indians will eventually end up voting on September 23.
That is something that cannot be ascertained before the evening of September 23.
However, one important question that needs immediate attention today is whether the Labour Party will succeed in regaining the popular support of Kiwi-Indians which they enjoyed during the heyday of the Helen Clark-Phil Goff leadership.
Indeed, there will not be an iota of doubt in the fact that Kiwi-Indians have traditionally supported and voted for the Labour Party – something that has radically changed in the past nine years of National Party being at the helm of affairs.
The fact that the National Party took the lead in sending the first and eventually two Kiwi-Indian MPs to the parliament before any other political party in New Zealand did not help in Labour’s receding influence and connection with the community.
Nevertheless, it is to the credit to Andrew Little, the current Labour leader who by his own admission was committed to reverse this lacuna and had succeeded in nominating Priyanca Radhakrishnan high in the party list ensuring that she becomes the first India born Kiwi-Indian MP in the Labour caucus.
Will that be enough to revive Kiwi-Indians’ mana with the Labour party is something to be seen in the future?
For now, we have to depend on Labour’s policy offerings to Kiwi-Indians to presuppose their preference in the upcoming elections and the recent immigration policy announcement offers a good starting point.
The party has made an audacious announcement of cutting down immigration numbers in the range of 25-30,000 with international students taking the maximum brunt.
While the Trump-effect was expected to echo on immigration in some measure, few would have anticipated a proposal to cull immigrant numbers on this scale.
However, the fact that Andrew Little and the Labour Party had largely escaped from creating much sensationalism after announcing such a massive cut also deserve some accolades.
The Party has surely done some homework before laying out its immigration policy announcement to escape from the resultant backlash that generally follows after such a big announcement.
Anyway, how will the voters receive this policy is the question of the day.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has to provide some answers to the questions arising from their massive cut in immigration numbers.
First, as Prime Minister Bill English has said that international students do not purchase houses, thus contesting Labour’s premise that they are contributing to Auckland’s housing crisis.
Second, how does the Labour Party propose to fill the tentative revenue gap of $750 million that these 25,000 international students bring to New Zealand?
For now, Andrew Little has countered Indian Weekender’s question on these numbers by saying, “Our modelling shows that the loss of revenue would be in the order of tens of millions and not hundreds of millions.”
To this, it is submitted that the Labour Party might have to do a little bit more in justifying its claim and possibly come out with those numbers in the open, which in the end will also help its own narrative. Till that happens, voters might want to persist with numbers available in the public domain. $750 million is a big loss of revenue to be accounted for.
Last but not the least, many employers in our communities especially from industries such as hospitality are finding it hard to comprehend the fallout from a massive reduction in immigrants as their businesses continues to suffer from a dearth of an employable workforce.
Undoubtedly, every general election has different key issues, and for Kiwi-Indians this year the main issues are law and order, health, housing and immigration.
The fact that Indian Weekender is an immigrant community newspaper makes us supportive of immigration – though not reckless immigration and it is yet to be proven beyond doubt that current immigration levels are imprudent and warranting a knee-jerk reaction.
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