A tough week to be immigration minister
Less than six weeks into the role, Andrew Little is embroiled in a fight with a select committee and under attack from migrant groups over visa policy.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, August 2, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: School leaver attainment lowest in a decade; Waikato Hospital records worst-ever day for ambulance “ramping”; Wellington council admits it’s been overcharging residential ratepayers for years. But first, visas (or the lack of them) are causing multiple headaches for Andrew Little.
Immigration minister Andrew Little
Reports of migrant exploitation are skyrocketing
It’s only Wednesday, and already this is a week the immigration minister would probably rather forget. As The Bulletin covered yesterday, Andrew Little is currently at war with a select committee over a bill to allow extended detention of asylum seekers arriving en masse. And that’s just one of his headaches. On Monday Newshub’s Amelia Wade reported that complaints of migrant exploitation have increased sixfold under Labour, and many experts are blaming the accredited employer work visa (AEWV). The accreditation system was designed to weed out bad employers, but by tying migrant workers to a single employer the AEWV is actually making abuse worse, says the Migrant Workers Association’s Anu Kaloti. Andrew Little says the increase in complaints can largely be explained by tools launched in 2021 to allow easier reporting.
The Greens are on the warpath over overstayers
Meanwhile, the Greens are attacking the slow progress on an amnesty for overstayers. In March, Little’s predecessor Michael Wood said the government was “actively considering” offering migrant overstayers amnesty, but there’s been little movement since. Now Little says it won’t happen before the election, citing the “very careful balancing exercise” of designing such a scheme. “Little said there was also concern about sending a signal that if people overstayed they would be granted an amnesty at some point,” reports the Herald’s Michael Neilson. The Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March says that’s a cop out: “MBIE has been unable to provide any evidence an amnesty encourages people to overstay – those are simply vibes.” He says if Labour wants the Greens’ support after the election it will need to make the overstayer amnesty a priority.
Parent visa hugely oversubscribed; cyclone visa the target of mass fraud
A couple more immigration-related headlines from the past few days: There’s only a minuscule possibility of getting one of the parent visas that were reintroduced last October, writes Lincoln Tan at the Herald. There are now 5000 applications in the queue for the visa, which allows immigrants to sponsor their parents for residence in New Zealand. Only 500 visas are available each year – although Immigration NZ (INZ) now says it will also hold a one-off selection for applications received before the restart in October – and because each expression of interest “will have roughly two people, there’s only about a 2% possibility of getting a visa”. The results of this year’s ballot are released on August 8. Another visa headline: The special cyclone-recovery work visa introduced in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle was targeted by organised scammers, reports Businessdesk’s Jem Traylen (paywalled), forcing INZ to reject two out of every five applications.
Is every NZ business considering an Aussie move, or does it just feel like it?
The biggest immigration story of the week isn’t about inward migration at all. You’ve probably noticed that sudden flurry of articles about business owners abandoning New Zealand for Australia, and so has Hayden Donnell. He sought out two small businesswomen who are standing firm, bravely refusing to join the Kiwi exodus. Their reasons for staying include preferring not to “die due to climate change-influenced civil war“ and “packing is a bitch”. As someone who recently packed up their entire house to go travelling, I can passionately attest to that last one.
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School leaver attainment worst since 2012
The number of students leaving school with NCEA Level 2 or above has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, The Press’s Tatiana Gibbs reports (paywalled). The education ministry report shows that 75% of school leavers reached that attainment in 2022, a 3.7% decrease from 2021. The Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, industrial action were among the factors named in the report as impacting the numbers. The stats are worse for Māori. “Since 2019, the most recent year prior to the pandemic, the proportion of Māori school leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above decreased by 8%, almost double the overall decrease of 4.8%,” Gibbs writes.
Overwhelmed Waikato ED leads to record ambulance ‘ramp’ times
Another record “worst”, sadly: Newshub’s Karen Rutherford reports that Waikato Hospital recorded its worst-ever day of “ramping” on Monday, with almost every ambulance in the region parked for up to four hours waiting to get into the emergengcy department. Ramping occurs when ambulances are forced to park outside and treat patients on ramps because of overcrowding in the ED. Twelve full ambulances were parked outside the emergency department at the peak of the crisis; inside it was "the most overwhelmed shift I have ever worked” said a senior ED doctor. It was almost as bad in many other parts of the country. “Hato Hone St John said ambulances around the country were parked up on Monday waiting to get into EDs for a total of 204 hours,” reports Rutherford. “On a normal winter's day they'd be “ramped” for a total of 130 hours nationally.”
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Click and Collect
Wellington ratepayers have been overcharged (by just a bit) for four years, while businesses have been paying too little.
Auckland’s harbour bridge is on a 50km/h speed restriction due to high winds that could reach 100km/h later today.
A “stunning” roast duck, onion and mushroom gave Tauranga pie genius Patrick Lam another win at the pie of the year awards.
A drawing of a blank wall by Wellington’s Connah Podmore has won the $25,000 Parkin Drawing Prize.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.
Toby Manhire looks back at the last time Labour tried to cut GST on fruit and vege; it did not go well. Gabi Lardies finds a whole lot of tights at the supermarket, and wonders why she can’t buy undies there too. We've been adding more lanes to roads for 50 years, writes Timothy Welch. When are we going to learn it just doesn’t work? And a 20-something describes how she’s cutting expenses to the bone as she saves for a European holiday, in the latest instalment of our The Cost of Being series.
Sporting Snippets
The United States advanced to the knockout stage – but only just, after a shaky 0-0 draw with Portugal at Eden Park.
Also advancing are England, who beat China 6-1, and the Netherlands who scored a crushing 7-0 victory over Vietnam in Dunedin.
That insipid US result has helped the team lose their position as lone 2023 Cup favourite. Odds makers are now giving England and Spain the same odds as the US to win it all.
Yes, we need to send these people back to where they came from
What a legend - the “dicks guy” from Dunedin is an absolute treasure 🤩