Immigration Issues.

Time to get our house in order.

Help is coming
I heard a whisper
White caps turning
The breath of summer

A distant drumming
And liar birds calling
Escape the anguish of our past
And pray

One of the major challenges of the the 21st century will be the mass migration of human beings around our globe.

Some seeking economic opportunities, others fleeing repressive regimes, war zones, and the impacts of climate change. People will increasingly seek more hospitable places to live and raise their families - and who can blame them?

Immigrants seeking to cross the U.S. border are stuck between the U.S. and Mexico. Photo by Mario Tama.

But we’ve seen the harrowing scenes across Europe and the US of this tide of humanity. The tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of other teeming shores.

Awful scenes of people risking their lives on small, barely seaworthy craft, crammed into the back of trucks, or illegally crossing borders, to get to places where they’re not wanted.

We’ve seen the reactions too. The populist politicians revving the public up with anti immigrant rhetoric. The attempts to stop those getting across the border, no matter how dangerous, leading to tragic sights of people literally dying in their attempt to reach a better life.

Empires crumbling
Careless winter
Fear is running
Along the rivers
We sail tomorrow
For Ellis Island

The mindset of ever higher walls to keep the problem from getting in. Or the inhuman approach of the UK to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. Exporting human beings as other nations ship waste material to third world countries for processing and disposal. Places where laws protecting people, or the environment, are less of a consideration.

Protesters hold placards as they gather outside the Home Office in central London on June 13, 2022, to demonstrate against the UK government's intention to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda. © Niklas Halle'n, AFP.

So what about here? We’re a long way from anywhere else which makes us hard to get to, but that also makes this an attractive place for those seeking a lifestyle and the security that is becoming less easily obtainable elsewhere.

News articles about the flow of people tend to be negative, whatever the story. Kiwis leave for opportunities elsewhere - bad. Lots of immigrants are coming here - also bad. Refugees - OMG don’t even get me started!

I don’t really understand why people leaving is considered to be so bad. There are far more people arriving than leaving, if the concern is the size of the population. To be honest it seems kinda racist. As if a newly arrived Kiwi was somehow not as worthy as a longer term, departing one.

As far as I’m concerned a family that moves here for work or education opportunities, or for resettlement as refugees, are every bit as Kiwi as those born here who opt to leave. Maybe even more so.

Often it seems that National and Act focus on the business benefits of decisions without full consideration of their impact on people, society, or the environment. Take for example our level of immigration. As with everything there are pros and cons in the choices made.

A higher level of immigration results in downward pressure on wages, and additional pressure on housing, increasing rents and reducing availability. Of course our new government sees both cheaper labour and higher property prices as being beneficial, certainly to the people that vote for them. Although support from NZ First for high immigration would seem quite off brand.

However nobody likes the infrastructure debt that results from a growing population with seemingly no plan to cater for such. Be it pipes in the ground, transport solutions, or schools and hospitals, they all seem to be considerations after the fact. Rather than things that are managed to ensure a good quality of life, both for existing residents and more recent arrivals coming here to make new lives.

As well as providing infrastructure to support planned growth, it’s also vital that we ensure new kiwis migrating here are given a fair go.

Escape the anger of our past
And pray that peace will come at last
And dream

Release the anger of our past
And pray that peace will come at last
And stay

That they’re not exploited by charlatans offering immigration services to get here, or by unscrupulous employers when they arrive. Anecdotally, in terms of media coverage, it looks like many who come here experience treatment that doesn’t seem very Kiwi.

We need better monitoring of the immigration sector, although of course that’s just the sort of function that will fall by the wayside with National’s cuts to public service funding. Mind you it doesn’t seem like there’s a heck of a lot to cut. From what I see it seems those trying to monitor the industry, to protect new kiwis, are woefully under resourced as it is.

So how many new people can we handle? That was the main topic on Q&A this morning.

Now that Minister Erica Stanford has sorted out her Education portfolio. Demonstrating true vision, by banning mobile phones and telling schools to teach reading, writing, and maths, how will she manage her Immigration responsibilities?

Image: Q&A.

Once again I’m writing about a Jack Tame interview, it’s pretty slim pickings otherwise for in-depth political interviews at present. Perhaps the new Ryan Bridge based current affairs show on TV3, which is apparently going to be called simply “Bridge”, might change that?

In case you didn’t pick it up that was a joke. As was the bit earlier about Erica being an educational visionary. Ryan Bridge is to the hopes of a public craving quality journalism as a one way ticket to Rwanda is to the the dreams of a migrant arriving on the shores of Britain.