Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Parmjeet Parmar: ACT's Immigration Spokesperson on their proposed changes to Permanent Resident Visa requirements

Transcript

Parmjeet Parmar: ACT's Immigration Spokesperson on their proposed changes to Permanent Resident Visa requirements · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: ACT says it wants permanent residents to actually reside in
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: New Zealand. This is from their new immigration policy. Their
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: idea is to change the permanent resident visa requirement to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: two out of every five years to be spent in
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: New Zealand in order to freely come and go. Dr.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Parmjeet Parmar is the ACT Party MP with us this morning. Parmjeet,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: good morning.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Hi, good morning, Dave.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: So I'm a permanent... Can we clarify what happens now?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I'm a permanent resident of New Zealand. I leave the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: country to go to the UK. I want to come
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and go. How often do I need to be in
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: New Zealand?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: So what we are proposing is that the permanent resident
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: category should be removed. And that doesn't mean that people
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: will not be able to live here permanently. That means, yes,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: they will be able to live here permanently as long
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: as they fulfill the conditions of a reviewed resident visa,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: which is to require physical presence of two years within
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: every rolling five-year period. So yes, there are some sensible exemptions.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: So hang on. So at the moment, if I'm a
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: permanent resident, I can come and go as I please,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: as much as I want?
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: That's right. Okay.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And you're saying that there would be a new visa
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and that would mean I have to be in New
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Zealand for two years out of every five. Is that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: two years all in one go or is it spread
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: however I want over the five years?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. So it's not continuous stay here. So this
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: is basically just changing the resident visa, which is already there.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So this is because there are growing concerns about people
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: obtaining permanent residency, moving overseas. And I've heard several cases
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: where people have told me that people come here, they
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: got their permanent residency and they have left their children
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: here in New Zealand and then they continue to benefit
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: from our publicly funded education and other services despite the
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: family's life being established elsewhere. So it's to ensure that
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the system is not being exploited.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Where are they going? So they come here, they get
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: permanent residence, put the kids into school and go back where?
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: So wherever they have come from. So people are fulfilling
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: the condition of getting permanent residency. So once they get
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: permanent residency, they just go back where they have come from.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: They have their jobs there. So the working member goes
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: back there. And then sometimes people just come back to
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: access our free medical services.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Which countries, though? Like what types of countries are you
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: talking about? Are you talking about poorer countries than ours
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: or are you talking about wealthier countries than ours? Because
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: surely if you came from a poorer country, you would
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: stay here and get a job because it would pay more.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm talking about overall, these are the kind of
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: cases that I'm hearing about. And we don't want anybody
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: abusing our system.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know. But can you give me
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: like an example?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: It could be anyone who has a good job in
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: their own country where they have come from.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but why would they move here then?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Because we have a very generous public system. We have
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: free education system. And medical procedures in the public system,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: it's free as well. So people are actually coming here
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and accessing these things once they gain permanent residency. And
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: permanent residency should mean living in New Zealand, not obtaining
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: permanent residency and then just basically going home.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Totally understand. So if I'm British, my kids will get
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a largely free education over there. My kids will get
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: largely free health care through the NHS.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: So it doesn't make sense for me to move to
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: New Zealand just so they can also get free education
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: and health care and then move back to Britain for
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: my job, right? That doesn't make sense. So are you
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: talking about people moving from poor countries that don't have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: those services in order to move here to use them?
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: So what I'm saying is that this is happening in
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: New Zealand.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I know that, but where are they coming from? It
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: It's our system that is being exploited. It is our
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: system that is being exploited.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter where these people are.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Coming from because we are not stopping them from coming
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: here because we are welcoming all migrants, those who genuinely
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: want to be here, want to live, work and contribute here.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: But if people are abusing our system, my goal is
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to fix that.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, I understand. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: trying to understand. How many, you know, you said you've
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: got cases. How many people are actually doing this? Do
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: we know?
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So I don't have numbers, but the issue is this,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: that this is a real issue because there are some people,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: those who are using this as a lifetime entitlement.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: How many people, a real issue, how real, how many
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: cases have you been told about?
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: So the issue is this here, that I don't have
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the numbers, but if there is, a problem it is
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: our job to fix that.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: No i get it i get it but how big
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: is the problem palm tree how many people like you
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: said you've been told about cases how many cases have
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: you been told about so.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: What i'm saying here is this that i don't have
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: the numbers but if there is a problem it is
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: our job to fix that problem so that our immigration
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: system is not open to exploitation.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Fair enough palm tree palmer act party mp For more
• 4:59
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• 5:02
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• 5:05
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