Labour Party’s ‘self-goal’ on international student exploitation
The Labour Party has conceded a ‘self-goal’ on the emotionally charged issue of ‘foreign student exploitation’ that New Zealanders have been hearing too often in its high-decibel anti-immigration pitch in this election year.
The party has come under fire since reports emerged earlier this week that a group of 85 foreign volunteer workers including international students, who were apparently hired for an election-related campaign work were being forced to live in miserable conditions and work long hours without any payments.
The Labour Leader Andrew Little has since then apologised and conceded the embarrassment for the Party.
"I have to say it is embarrassing for the party, of course, it is," Mr Little said.
"I am disappointed that they've been let down, but right now the priority is to fix that up, look after them, make sure they're okay and work out what to do from there,” Mr Little said in an attempt to minimise the damage to the party.
For the uninitiated, it was earlier reported in the political blog Politik on Friday, June 22 that a Labour Party scheme to recruit 85 overseas students to campaign for the party during this year’s election had hit trouble.
“The students had rebelled over their accommodation and their disappointment with what was supposed to be a high-powered learning programme but which appears to be not much more than political campaign drudge work,” Politik reported.
It all started under the guise of “Campaign for Change NZ,” – a political campaign – run by former Labour chief of staff Matt McCarten, with the stated objective of enhancing participation of the millennial generation in New Zealand’s democratic process.
It was reported that Mr McCarten had said that the "non-partisan" campaign would focus on getting "young people, workers in low-paid occupations, as well as Maori, Pasifika, and other ethnic communities" to the ballot box.
But the programme ran into trouble when a group of students gathered in the Labour Party’s Auckland office complaining about miserable living conditions and less than satisfactory work situation.
Mr McCarten had since then detached himself from the campaign on the Labour Party’s request.
However, the Party has to answer several questions, especially in the face of the moral high ground that it often claims on setting “right priorities” and curbing “foreign student exploitation,” that according to them is affecting New Zealand’s reputation and largely responsible for calling for purging immigration numbers in the order of 25-30,000.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender earlier last week immediately after announcing Labour’s immigration policy, Labour leader Andrew Leader had affirmed that “We don’t want to get a reputation for that [exploitation of international students].”
The Labour Party has conceded a ‘self-goal’ on the emotionally charged issue of ‘foreign student exploitation’ that New Zealanders have been hearing too often in its high-decibel anti-immigration pitch in this election year.
The party has come under fire since reports emerged earlier this week that...
The Labour Party has conceded a ‘self-goal’ on the emotionally charged issue of ‘foreign student exploitation’ that New Zealanders have been hearing too often in its high-decibel anti-immigration pitch in this election year.
The party has come under fire since reports emerged earlier this week that a group of 85 foreign volunteer workers including international students, who were apparently hired for an election-related campaign work were being forced to live in miserable conditions and work long hours without any payments.
The Labour Leader Andrew Little has since then apologised and conceded the embarrassment for the Party.
"I have to say it is embarrassing for the party, of course, it is," Mr Little said.
"I am disappointed that they've been let down, but right now the priority is to fix that up, look after them, make sure they're okay and work out what to do from there,” Mr Little said in an attempt to minimise the damage to the party.
For the uninitiated, it was earlier reported in the political blog Politik on Friday, June 22 that a Labour Party scheme to recruit 85 overseas students to campaign for the party during this year’s election had hit trouble.
“The students had rebelled over their accommodation and their disappointment with what was supposed to be a high-powered learning programme but which appears to be not much more than political campaign drudge work,” Politik reported.
It all started under the guise of “Campaign for Change NZ,” – a political campaign – run by former Labour chief of staff Matt McCarten, with the stated objective of enhancing participation of the millennial generation in New Zealand’s democratic process.
It was reported that Mr McCarten had said that the "non-partisan" campaign would focus on getting "young people, workers in low-paid occupations, as well as Maori, Pasifika, and other ethnic communities" to the ballot box.
But the programme ran into trouble when a group of students gathered in the Labour Party’s Auckland office complaining about miserable living conditions and less than satisfactory work situation.
Mr McCarten had since then detached himself from the campaign on the Labour Party’s request.
However, the Party has to answer several questions, especially in the face of the moral high ground that it often claims on setting “right priorities” and curbing “foreign student exploitation,” that according to them is affecting New Zealand’s reputation and largely responsible for calling for purging immigration numbers in the order of 25-30,000.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender earlier last week immediately after announcing Labour’s immigration policy, Labour leader Andrew Leader had affirmed that “We don’t want to get a reputation for that [exploitation of international students].”
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