Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Andrew Dickens: Politicians are missing the real immigration problem

Transcript

Andrew Dickens: Politicians are missing the real immigration problem · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about immigration. The past week has seen immigration
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: policies come to the fore. So New Zealand First signalling
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a tougher immigration stance, longer waits for residency and citizenship,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a referendum to cap new residency approvals to 20,000 a year,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and a 30-year population plan tying migrant intake to infrastructure capacity.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Labour also has announced it will tighten settings, extending residency
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: qualification to four years and promising a government policy statement.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But economists are pointing out that these policies miss the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: real immigration pressure because we issue more than 230,000 temporary
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: work visas annually, largely for lower paid roles on our
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: farms and our kitchens and even in our beauty salons.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We need these people. And yes, the temporary workers aren't
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: here forever. They're not migrants. But when they go, they're
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: replaced by other temporary visa holders. So the numbers stay
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: up there. This quarter of a million of temporary visa
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: holders is still driving population growth. It's still straining infrastructure
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and it's still suppressing wages. And they come with problems
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: that no one is addressing. And not for the first
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: time with these immigration policies, politicians can't see the wood
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: for the trees. And not for the first time, they
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: then release policies that are primarily designed to get votes,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: but don't address the issues. For more from Early Edition
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, listen live to Newstalk ZB from 5am
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.