The unwelcome return of dawn raid tactics

Immigration NZ has been put on notice over early-morning raids on the homes of overstayers.

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, May 3 by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: Labour minister Meka Whaitiri to defect to Te Pāti Māori; Labour and National spar over taxes in a fiery Question Time; and sticky Auckland weather set to stick around. But first, pre-dawn “visits” to homes of overstayers are reviving uncomfortable memories of a shameful era.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern sits under a fine mat as part of the official dawn raids apology, August 2021 (Photo: Justin Latif)

In 2023, an echo of the inhumane dawn raids of the 1970s

In the early hours of the morning, police came to the door of a Tongan man living in South Auckland who had overstayed his visa. According to his lawyer, the family were still asleep, and the children downstairs were the first to hear people banging on the door. "They were terrified ... and crying and very, very upset and scared” as their father was taken into custody, Soane Foliaki told RNZ’s Morning Report. The incident sounds very much like one of the infamous dawn raids of the 1970s, but it happened just last week. Foliaki first spoke about the case on Tagata Pasifika on Saturday; in the days since Immigration NZ has admitted the early morning raid was not a one-off – “18 or 19″ interactions with “customers” between July 2022 and April 2023 have occurred “outside of hours”, equivalent to around 3% of all interactions. “Early morning visits are paid when Immigration does not believe the person will be home during the day,” RNZ reports, but Foliaki says the tactics are straight from the dawn raids playbook. "This raid was no different from any other raid in the '70s."

An apology that some say now rings hollow

The news comes nearly two years after former prime minister Jacinda Ardern made an official public apology for the dawn raids. “Residents in those homes were woken abruptly, physically removed from their beds and forced into police vans to be taken for questioning,” she said in her speech, expressing the government’s “sorrow, remorse, and regret” for the policy. Asked about it yesterday, immigration minister Michael Wood said the government apology applied to a “massive systemic approach of dawn raids across the whole community”, while he expected the current use of out-of-hours deportations was “only in those small number of extreme cases where there is no other option”. Alison McDonald, who heads Immigration NZ, says “any visits outside of standard hours” will have to be personally authorised by her from now on. Prime minister Chris Hipkins says he found the news of the pre-dawn home visits concerning. “Those aren't the sorts of tactics that I would expect us to be using in New Zealand."

Calls for an overstayer amnesty

In light of the latest events, the Green Party is renewing its calls for the government to grant amnesty to the roughly 14,000 people estimated to have overstayed their visas. Pacific leaders have also petitioned the government for an amnesty policy, and many had hoped the 2021 apology would provide the momentum their campaign needed. It’s not the first time the issue has come up. In 2000 the government granted amnesty to NZ’s then 7,000 overstayers. At the time, immigration minister Lianne Dalziel said: “You have to ask whether people who are well-settled, tax-paying, law-abiding people with strong family and community connections should in fact be sent 'home' when 'home' is really New Zealand.” Wood says he will make a decision on current overstayers “quite soon”. On The Spinoff this morning, Madeleine Chapman writes that “whatever his decision, the practice of arresting overstayers in their homes at dawn will continue to be a source of trauma for Pacific people, no matter how nicely worded the ‘visits’ are or how often the prime minister of the time apologises”.

Seasonal workers among those affected

A significant proportion of overstayers are likely to have arrived in the country on the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, which has been criticised for allowing worker abuse through lax oversight and a lack of regulation. In December, a damning Human Rights Commission report found that some workers were living in conditions that amounted to modern-day slavery. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is conducting a full review of the policy, with its recommendations scheduled to go before cabinet in June. 

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Labour minister to defect to Te Pāti Māori

Labour minister outside cabinet Meka Whaitiri will announce today that she will resign from Labour and stand as a candidate for Te Pāti Māori in the upcoming election, according to multiple sources including Te Ao Māori News, which broke the story last night. Whaitiri has been MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti since 2013, and it is expected that she will be announced today as the Māori Party candidate, replacing current candidate Heather Te Au Skipworth. Whaitiri is minister for Customs, Food Safety, and Veterans and “was reportedly disappointed at not being restored to cabinet when Stuart Nash was sacked,” Toby Manhire writes. “She was, however, made lead minister for the cyclone recovery in Hawke’s Bay. In 2018, Whaitiri was demoted from cabinet by then prime minister Jacinda Ardern following reports of clashes with a staff member.” It appears Labour was blindsided by the move, which is happening while leader Chris Hipkins is in London to attend the coronation.

Labour and National spar over capital gains and ‘ute’ taxes

In a fiery Question Time, the government and opposition traded barbs on capital gains tax and the clean car discount scheme. National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis “persisted with her efforts to uncover what she claims is Labour’s secret capital gains or wealth taxes”, the Herald reports, pushing finance minister Grant Robertson to deny that cabinet had discussed new tax policies three months ago. Robertson said specific Cabinet discussions were confidential and warned Willis over future allegations. “The member should be very careful with the accusations she chooses to make,” he said. National transport spokesperson Simeon Brown went on the attack over changes to the EV “feebate’ scheme, calling it a “kick in the guts” for the tradespeople and farmers who use high emissions vehicles like utes. In response, transport minister Michael Wood accused National of wishing to turn “every policy that is about addressing climate change into a tacky little culture war”. 

Is Ron Park New Zealand’s mussel king?

Green Lip Mussels are native, super sustainable and have scientifically proven benefits for joint health – so why are they still not as widely used as they could be? Kōrure founder Ron Park is on a mission to change this, and he’s Simon Pound’s guest on this week’s Business is Boring.

Sticky Auckland weather to continue for a while yet

As Auckland suffers through an unusually humid autumn, many locals are wondering what’s going on – and when they’ll get some blessed relief. The city is currently considerably more humid than notoriously moist Singapore, reports Stuff’s Sapeer Mayron. Thanks to a “waft of super warm air” straight from the Islands, “Auckland’s dew point temperature – the temperature to which the air needs to be cooled to be saturated with water vapour – is pretty similar to various spots in the Pacific.” That dew point temperature was 19 degrees on Tuesday, and it may stay that way all week, Mayron writes. People typically start to notice the feeling of humidity when the dew point is 15 degrees, while 20 degrees is “downright tropics”, says Niwa principal scientist Chris Brandolino.

Click and collect

• Lawrence Kimberley, Christchurch’s Anglican dean, has stepped down at age 61 so he can earn enough money from a new job before retirement to buy a house (The Press, paywalled).

• Countdown's average food prices increased by 9.5% this quarter, compared with the year before. Despite this, sales were up 8.5% (Businessdesk, paywalled).

• Wellington high school principals say an unacceptable number of students are missing school due to ongoing public transport problems, particularly this week’s train cancellations, The Post’s Tom Hunt reports (paywalled). 

• The Broadcasting Standards Authority has found RNZ to have been “misleading” in stories about the end of MIQ, and has ordered it to correct the record. 

• Multiple “senior” Green Party members tell Stuff they will quit the party over its treatment of MP Elizabeth Kerekere, who has been accused of bullying.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

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Right now on The Spinoff

Ahead of the show’s last-ever episode tonight, Duncan Greive reflects on the legacy of Police Ten 7. A new festival shows how Māori architecture is part of Christchurch's past – and future, reports Tommy de Silva. Stewart Sowman-Lund has a follow-up on the Invercargill councillor facing allegations of sexual harassment. Alice Peacock checks in from London, where the city is going all out for the coronation. Sela Jane Hopgood visits a new store in Tauranga where people can find beautiful Pacific goods and receive vital healthcare.

Sporting snippets

• NZ coach Jamie Joseph, who was reportedly down to the final two to be the next All Blacks coach, will remain in Japan after leaving his current role as coach of the national side.

• Men's world tennis number one Novak Djokovic will be allowed to compete at the US Open this year after the US government said it will end its Covid-19 vaccination requirements.

• Paralympic sit ski hopeful Bailley Unahi has successfully debuted on offshore slopes and is joining a global run to raise funds for spinal research, LockerRoom’s Merryn Anderson writes.

‘Recline at night, sit up during the day’, and other 100% correct plane travel rules

Later today I board a flight bound for Europe, where I’ll be spending the next six months or so working remotely (yes, including on The Bulletin – I’ll be back here on Tuesday, with Duncan Greive holding the fort until then). I’m too frazzled to have done much reading this week, so I’ll leave you with a piece by yours truly, giving my hard and fast etiquette rules for travelling by air. I stand by every word. 

On feet: “Socks yes, bare feet no, and if you’re worried even in the slightest that your feet might smell, bring clean socks to change into. Do not slide your feet between the headrests. Do not stick your feet into the aisle. Do not, for the love of god, give your friend a pedicure.”