Little: I’ll halt thousands of immigrants
Labour leader Andrew Little has vowed to slash immigration by “tens of thousands” of new arrivals but won’t be more specific about exact numbers.
Speaking to Herald Focus after the Government announced a tightening of immigration rules, Little said Labour would go much further in order to give the country a “breather”.
“The commitment I am making is we have to be serious about it, we have to cut immigration. It has got to be in the order of tens of thousands,” Little said.
“And it has got to be immigration that meets the genuine shortage of skills that we’ve got, not just the open slather policy we’ve got right now.”
Asked by how much would Labour cut immigration, Little said he did not have an exact number and flexibility was needed from year to year in order to match the right migrants with skill shortages.
He criticised Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse for being unable to estimate how many people the changes announced on Wednesday would keep out of New Zealand.
“What I can’t see from what they have announced is just what impact that is going to have. Right now the problem is we have tens of thousands; 70,000-odd new people coming to New Zealand each year, most of them settling in Auckland.
“You have a city that is absolutely packed to the gunnels,” he said.
Prime Minister Bill English yesterday hit back at Little’s comments, saying they were not realistic.
“We need the skills to get houses built for instance, and this is a party that is promising to build 100,000 houses. Where are they are going to get the people to do it?”
English said drastically cutting immigration was difficult when a significant driver was Kiwis returning from overseas.
Labour is working on an immigration policy that could be released in the coming weeks.
Last week Little said there would be no cap on immigration, but rather a reduction in work visas granted in areas such as labouring jobs.
Record migration, which is underpinning New Zealand’s economic growth and putting pressure on infrastructure, has shown no sign of letting up and in the year to February was at a net level of 71,333.
The Government has argued strong immigration flows are a measure of the country’s success and contribute positively to the economy.
However, last October Woodhouse announced changes that meant those coming to New Zealand under the skilled migrant category would need 160 points before getting residency, rather than 140.
And yesterday Woodhouse unveiled another raft of changes, including restricting skilled worker visas to those who will earn more than $49,000 once in New Zealand.