PM Ardern: Labour Would Vote Against ‘Kiwi Values’ Bill
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she doesn’t support the concept of NZ First’s Respecting NZ Values Bill, which would impose cultural conditions on migrants and refugees entering the country. Ms Ardern, who arrived back from New York where she addressed the UN last week, told Morning Report the bill was not something the Labour Party would promote or likely vote for in Parliament.
“We consider each bill case by case,” she said.
“It is not a government bill, it is not government policy. It’s a New Zealand First bill and it’s up to them to pursue it and debate it and it’s not something that Labour is likely to support at all.”
The New Zealand First conference at the weekend voted for a member’s bill requiring new arrivals to sign up to designated values.
The bill includes core values that demand respect for gender equality, legal sexual preferences, freedom of religion and a commitment not to campaign against alcohol consumption.
Ms Ardern said there was already provision in law to deport immigrants who broke the law and that there were other ways to integrate immigrants into New Zealand society, which included giving them support. She said the government’s refugee resettlement programme offered the best vehicle for doing so.
“I think the best way that we can make sure we are sharing, upholding, spreading what we consider to be values that are important to us, is the way we do it now,” she said. “Our refugee resettlement programme, for instance, is one of the best in the world because we support people when they come here. “We give them a period where they’re at the resettlement centre, where we really expose them to things that are a part of New Zealand life.”
Such disagreements between NZ First and Labour were part of being involved in a coalition government and reflected the nature of MMP politics.
She did not think the bill was xenophobic. RNZ