The cost of rapid population growth
Productivity Commission chair says NZ needs a better strategy for immigration, from building more homes to ensuring communities have capacity to absorb arrivals
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, November 8, by Justin Giovannetti. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Vaccine levels top 90% across all Auckland; the risk of long Covid; a big week at Cop26 begins; but first, how to control immigration levels.
Ganesh Nana, the Productivity Commission chair. (Image supplied)
A new approach to immigration is needed. New Zealand’s rate of immigration before the Covid-19 pandemic was unsustainable and a rethink is needed, the Productivity Commission has concluded in the preliminary findings of its inquiry into the country’s immigration system. While the full report won’t be finished until next year, commission chair Ganesh Nana spoke with The Bulletin about what’s been found so far.
“Clearly what we have signalled in our work is that the level of migration in the immediate pre-Covid era was unsustainable given the absorptive capacity of the country. We could not continue, unless we are willing to make the investment in that capacity: housing, public transport, water infrastructure”, he said.
We might not need an annual cap on migration numbers, but we need a conversation. One of the main issues highlighted by the commission is a deep disconnect between the country’s relatively high levels of immigration and its ability to absorb newcomers. New Zealand needs to align its policies at the government and council levels with the number of new workers and families it accepts. I asked Nana why there hasn’t been much of a conversation on the issue:
“I suppose that’s fair because we’ve never had that opportunity and this is the first time long-term immigration has been looked at in 30 years. One of our recommendations is a government policy statement on immigration and while that might sound bureaucratic, it’s one avenue to set the objectives for immigration and tie in other objectives, be they infrastructure, climate change and skills training. It encourages a public debate”, he said.
New Zealand’s immigration is also ‘very peculiar’. The country had some of the highest number of migrants arriving per capita before the pandemic, but it also had very high levels of departures. Somewhere around 18% of New Zealanders live overseas, about one million people. As a sign of how significant that is, only about 2% of Americans live overseas, or 9% of Canadians. Making issues more complicated for the New Zealand government, there’s been steady traffic across the Tasman as people leave for Australia. According to Nana, it makes the immigration system difficult to manage and means that the actual number of migrants doesn’t end up reflecting any true government policy.
More of an effort needs to be made to work the Te Tiriti o Waitangi into immigration policy. The treaty is a document that has a lot to do with immigration and the crown has a duty to protect Māori interests, according to Nana. It could be a statement or policy, but the treaty needs to be recognised and respected as part of the immigration process, the commission has concluded.
“We want to attract migrants who are prepared to commit to Aotearoa New Zealand for the long-term and one of those elements could be whether they are committed to learning te reo,” said Nana.
The immigration system should be more transparent about who can stay. It’s part of the debate the country needs to have, but there should be a clearer distinction for migrants about which are temporary and have no pathway to residency and which do, Nana said. Some of the current categories under which people migrate create expectations of permanent residency that can’t be fulfilled and that’s bad for the country’s reputation.
I asked him if making some people only temporary workers would make New Zealanders uncomfortable. That would mean some people would be asked to pay to migrate here, work here and create links with the community, but they’ll eventually need to leave with no possibility of staying.
“That was the problem in the pre-Covid era”, he said. Some people, maybe informed by dodgy consultants overseas, came here under the wrong impression they could work and stay, when they couldn’t. “We could say we’re comfortable with that and we want to be clear that people need to leave, or we could also say that we don’t like that and we want to go down the route of permanent migration.”
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All of Auckland clears 90% threshold; 89% of eligible New Zealanders have had a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. As RNZ reports, the country is just a few jabs shy of 90%. The Counties Manukau DHB reached the target on Sunday, meaning all three Auckland DHBs are now above the threshold. About 78% of all eligible New Zealanders are fully vaccinated. Officials in Gisborne and Napier are racing to increase vaccination levels after the virus was detected in wastewater.
The prime minister will announce this afternoon if alert level settings for Auckland and upper Northland will change. Auckland could move to step two of alert level three at midnight tomorrow.
The Covid numbers: There are 74 cases in hospital and 5 in ICU/HDU. There are now 2,531 active cases in New Zealand. 109 new community cases were reported in Auckland yesterday, 3 in Waikato and 1 in Northland. 33,867 people were vaccinated on Saturday.
The Spinoff’s Covid data tracker has the latest figures.
A possible ‘tsunami of disability’ from long Covid. The Sunday Star-Times reports that hundreds of people infected in the delta outbreak, out of over 4,300 cases detected so far, could be left with long-term illnesses. Experts say one-in-three people will experience symptoms months after exposure. It’s unclear what the long-term cost of Covid illness will be on individuals and society, but that risk is one of the reasons many health experts are cautious about opening up.
Four key challenges at the second week of Cop26. Negotiators at the global climate summit are facing a thorny second week of talks, but there’s cause for optimism, the AP report. There could be moves to make countries update their carbon targets every two years, send more money to developing countries, as well as finally make international carbon trading viable and transparent for all.
The unspectacular Jacinda Ardern. The Labour leader brought no razzle dazzle to an online-only conference speech on the weekend, Toby Manhire writes for The Spinoff. Following a week where she had to cancel press conferences due to anti-vax protestors and her top ministers kept contradicting themselves, she kept her appearance low-key. Ardern also (temporarily) dropped her ban on foreign media interviews for a one-off appearance on Meet the Press, which she said was an attempt to make up for her decision not to attend Cop26. Host Chuck Todd struggled to find an interesting angle as she ducked questions on China and climate change.
At nearly 8kg, Doug is quite the potato. A Hamilton couple found a massive potato in their garden. It weighs as much as a very large turkey and could set the world record for the largest of its kind, according to The Guardian. The couple called the potato Doug and have been taking it on walks. The veggie might now have a second life as vodka, presumably a very large amount of drink.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news?
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Right now on The Spinoff: Rosie Carnahan-Darby writes from LA about what living with Covid-19 looks like: vaccine certificates and a lot of testing. Hayden Donnell looks at the “reality-bending optimism” that fuels Chlöe Swarbrick. Justin Latif reports on one minister’s mission to keep her congregation fully vaccinated. Sam Brooks delves into a report that finds most New Zealanders are gamers. Sam Brooks (again) reviews a new NZ thriller that has become a big seller at Singapore's most famous hotel.
Black Caps topple Afghanistan with brilliant bowling at Twenty20 cricket world cup. The NZ Herald reports that the team is headed into the final four and will now face England after a comprehensive win over the Afghans. The bowling and batting from the Afghan side didn’t rise to the challenge, while the Black Caps got to celebrate.
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curious about the Shit you should care about emails, as I would like to investigate their content (being an oldie who reads little youngie news). But I had a squizz at the past bulletins and would perhaps like to see ONE more to decide if I want them or not.