Canterbury IndiaNZ Labour launched

New Zealand Labour Party, if it comes to power in September, will implement a “immigration policy calibrated as per regional demands”. Something similar to what the Canterbury Mayoral Forum (CMF), comprising mayors of the 10 territorial authorities in Canterbury and the chair of the regional council (Environment Canterbury), had demanded in a collective letter sent to Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse and Prime Minister Bill English in June.

The CMF had outlined their concerns on the proposed changes announced by Mr Woodhouse in April, which the Forum said focussed more on Auckland issues and less on regional needs. On his part, the minister has already indicated last week that phase two of the review of the proposed changes might include “targeting of immigration settings by sectors and regions”.  

“A Labour Government will invest in housing, infrastructure, public services, and in training New Zealanders to fill skills shortages. At the same time, we will take a breather on immigration by reducing net migration by 20,000-30,000. We will do this by making sure that work visas are not being abused to fill low-skill, low-paid jobs, while ensuring that businesses are able to get genuinely skilled migrants when they need them. That's exactly what CMF is also saying. An immigration policy calibrated as per regional demands is what New Zealand needs right now,” said Megan Woods, who along with her fellow Labour MPs from Christchurch Ruth Dyson and Poto Williams launched the local chapter of the IndiaNz Labour Group – known as the Canterbury IndiaNz Labour Committee – last Sunday. The committee is headed by Narinder Singh Warraich, with Baljit Bains as the Vice-president and Lucky Badwal as the General Secretary.     

The MPs while acknowledging that the party may have lagged behind the ruling National in getting a foothold in the local Indian community, insisted that Labour has historically been at the foremost on bringing ethnic communities into the mainstream.

“We may have launched the local chapter of IndiaNz Labour Group now, but all of us have always been at hand for any of Indian community needs in and around Christchurch,” added Ms Williams, who also touched upon the controversial entry of Uber in Christchurch in her speech. The local taxi drivers, most of whom are from India, has protested multiple times in the past one year against the ride-sharing company.

Meanwhile, Ms Woods, in her speech clarified the stand taken by her Party “to reduce net migration by around 6,000 to 10,000 a year in returning the number of international students in low level courses at Private Training Establishments closer to their previous level”.

“As indicated in our immigration policy, Labour will stop issuing student visas for courses below a bachelor’s degree which are not independently assessed by the TEC and NZQA to be of high quality. In recent years, we have seen a surge in sham courses being used as a route to work and eventual residency, leading to exploitation of many students in their home countries as well as in New Zealand. This must stop. Again, as is Labour policy, quality education must stand on its own merits,” she noted.