New Zealand needs to find ways to entice new migrants to regional centres
The Maori Party’s recent announcement of ‘internship visa scheme for the regions’ as a part of its new policy on immigration illustrates two key points in this election year.
First is that immigration is the most important issue in this general election and no political party can afford to remain indifferent toward it regardless of their main focus.
Indeed, immigration is extremely important for New Zealand and forms the very essence of New Zealand as a nation and every party including the Maori Party has an important stake in the way immigration policy is being shaped.
However, it is the second key point emerging from Maori Party’s announcement of policy on immigration that is the main focus of this piece – the need for sending migrant workers out of Auckland into the regions.
Apparently, New Zealand has yet to find an efficient and concerted way to entice migrants to regions outside Auckland where businesses are struggling to find workers and employees to allow them to operate sustainably.
Regrettably, all the noise around immigration in this election year has been about finding ways to chop off the numbers recklessly under one pretext or the other.
Instead, the noise about channelling migrant workers to provincial regions beyond Auckland would have been far more beneficial for the New Zealand economy and the country in general, in comparison to the many bombastic claims we hear so commonly in this election.
In this regard, surely the Maori Party can take some credit in shining a beacon to maximise the benefits offered by immigrant workers in securing New Zealand’s future and simultaneously address another great imbalance that our nation faces – the imbalance between Auckland and the regions – both as centres of population and economic growth. (This is despite when there are clear problems in Maori Party’s proposed ‘internship visa scheme for the regions.’)
According to Infometrics, a provisional estimate of GDP growth rate of Auckland was up 4.0 per cent for the year to March 2017 compared to a year earlier, whereas growth in New Zealand was at 2.9 per cent.
Considering the suggestion made by Massey University demographics Professor Paul Spoonley, which says that Auckland has experienced maximum population growth in recent years and is also forecast to host 60 per cent of all New Zealand’s population increase over the next decade, it can be safely stated that population growth is playing an important role in GDP growth.
Indeed, if New Zealand’s policy planners would have been able to channelise this population growth, namely by enticing new migrants into the regions, then not only would it have translated into better economic growth for the regions, but also taken away the heat from Auckland’s problems that many term as ‘Auckland’s growing pains.’
Right now, Auckland’s problems are being conveniently portrayed as a problem of immigration, instead of being a problem of infrastructure development.
Anyway, such expedient portrayal of facts is a handy ploy in an election year and experience overseas (read Britain and the United States) has shown that making a monster out of immigration as being the root cause of every social problem that a country faces, wins elections.
It is another matter that those countries were facing the problem of illegal immigration on a mass scale and not just immigration per se, which shaped their respective political campaigning. Fortunately, New Zealand does not experience the problem of illegal immigration to deserve an anti-rhetoric immigration of the level and scope to match those of overseas destination.
Regardless of this fact, it has to be agreed that New Zealand does not have an appropriate way to place migrant workers where they are needed most such as large parts of rural New Zealand that are struggling to find workers to keep their economies ticking along toward growth. Similarly, South Island is fast ageing to make it difficult for businesses to find enough workers in the region.
The Labour Party, despite their hullabaloo on chopping immigration numbers still have to rely on migrant workers and offer a ‘Kiwibuild visa’ to bring foreign workers in the building industry to support their Kiwibuild policy of constructing 10,000 houses a year for the next 10 years.
In the absence of clarity on this policy, it is safe to assume that this policy will impose additional bureaucratic work without offering any respite to the industry and the region.
In this regard, the National Party also does not have much success despite some tweaking in introducing additional points for temporary migrants working outside Auckland.
Once again, this is a feeble effort that does not bind migrant workers to a particular region for some considerable time in a manner that is win-win for both – immigrants and the country.
While the other main political parties do not have any clear plan on how best to channelise migrant workers into the regions other than making some boastful claims.
New Zealand would do well to ‘learn’ from overseas experiences such as Australia and Canada which have developed robust programmes of bringing migrant workers directly into the regions for many years successfully (Labours have already demonstrated an increased propensity to look overseas for many of their tactical and strategic requirements).
The Maori Party’s recent announcement of ‘internship visa scheme for the regions’ as a part of its new policy on immigration illustrates two key points in this election year.
First is that immigration is the most important issue in this general election and no political party can afford to remain...
The Maori Party’s recent announcement of ‘internship visa scheme for the regions’ as a part of its new policy on immigration illustrates two key points in this election year.
First is that immigration is the most important issue in this general election and no political party can afford to remain indifferent toward it regardless of their main focus.
Indeed, immigration is extremely important for New Zealand and forms the very essence of New Zealand as a nation and every party including the Maori Party has an important stake in the way immigration policy is being shaped.
However, it is the second key point emerging from Maori Party’s announcement of policy on immigration that is the main focus of this piece – the need for sending migrant workers out of Auckland into the regions.
Apparently, New Zealand has yet to find an efficient and concerted way to entice migrants to regions outside Auckland where businesses are struggling to find workers and employees to allow them to operate sustainably.
Regrettably, all the noise around immigration in this election year has been about finding ways to chop off the numbers recklessly under one pretext or the other.
Instead, the noise about channelling migrant workers to provincial regions beyond Auckland would have been far more beneficial for the New Zealand economy and the country in general, in comparison to the many bombastic claims we hear so commonly in this election.
In this regard, surely the Maori Party can take some credit in shining a beacon to maximise the benefits offered by immigrant workers in securing New Zealand’s future and simultaneously address another great imbalance that our nation faces – the imbalance between Auckland and the regions – both as centres of population and economic growth. (This is despite when there are clear problems in Maori Party’s proposed ‘internship visa scheme for the regions.’)
According to Infometrics, a provisional estimate of GDP growth rate of Auckland was up 4.0 per cent for the year to March 2017 compared to a year earlier, whereas growth in New Zealand was at 2.9 per cent.
Considering the suggestion made by Massey University demographics Professor Paul Spoonley, which says that Auckland has experienced maximum population growth in recent years and is also forecast to host 60 per cent of all New Zealand’s population increase over the next decade, it can be safely stated that population growth is playing an important role in GDP growth.
Indeed, if New Zealand’s policy planners would have been able to channelise this population growth, namely by enticing new migrants into the regions, then not only would it have translated into better economic growth for the regions, but also taken away the heat from Auckland’s problems that many term as ‘Auckland’s growing pains.’
Right now, Auckland’s problems are being conveniently portrayed as a problem of immigration, instead of being a problem of infrastructure development.
Anyway, such expedient portrayal of facts is a handy ploy in an election year and experience overseas (read Britain and the United States) has shown that making a monster out of immigration as being the root cause of every social problem that a country faces, wins elections.
It is another matter that those countries were facing the problem of illegal immigration on a mass scale and not just immigration per se, which shaped their respective political campaigning. Fortunately, New Zealand does not experience the problem of illegal immigration to deserve an anti-rhetoric immigration of the level and scope to match those of overseas destination.
Regardless of this fact, it has to be agreed that New Zealand does not have an appropriate way to place migrant workers where they are needed most such as large parts of rural New Zealand that are struggling to find workers to keep their economies ticking along toward growth. Similarly, South Island is fast ageing to make it difficult for businesses to find enough workers in the region.
The Labour Party, despite their hullabaloo on chopping immigration numbers still have to rely on migrant workers and offer a ‘Kiwibuild visa’ to bring foreign workers in the building industry to support their Kiwibuild policy of constructing 10,000 houses a year for the next 10 years.
In the absence of clarity on this policy, it is safe to assume that this policy will impose additional bureaucratic work without offering any respite to the industry and the region.
In this regard, the National Party also does not have much success despite some tweaking in introducing additional points for temporary migrants working outside Auckland.
Once again, this is a feeble effort that does not bind migrant workers to a particular region for some considerable time in a manner that is win-win for both – immigrants and the country.
While the other main political parties do not have any clear plan on how best to channelise migrant workers into the regions other than making some boastful claims.
New Zealand would do well to ‘learn’ from overseas experiences such as Australia and Canada which have developed robust programmes of bringing migrant workers directly into the regions for many years successfully (Labours have already demonstrated an increased propensity to look overseas for many of their tactical and strategic requirements).
Leave a Comment