Members of the Government, it appears, are starting "bashing" immigration again. In a news article published on 11 May 2007 in the New Zealand Herald it states that "New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has pointed the finger of blame at immigration as key driver of inflation". While this may be true, I believe this to be a negative approach and certainly undeserved by the many immigrants coming into New Zealand.
It would be, in my humble opinion, much more worthwhile, especially by Government officials, to state the importance of immigration to this country. New Zealand needs people, quite simple. Immigrants bring the neccessary skills, experience and knowledge which is so desperately needed in New Zealand.
This is supported with an article in the same newspaper in the business section under the heading "Flood of workers keeps job market tight." The article states that "Employment surged in the first three months of the year, fresh evidence of an economic upswing is underway, while the unemployment rate at 3.8% indicates that the labour market remains tight". The article continues and states that "Firms have been reporting increasing difficulties in finding labour in recent quarters and perhaps parttimers were all they could find".
This to me is evidence to suggest that we need more "right" immigrants. With "right" I mean skilled, experienced immigrants in all sectors of business, manufacturing and labour. This also includes carpenters, bricklayers, electricians and the like as the number of these skilled poeple, currently New Zealand experiences a shortage especially in these areas, do certainly have an influence on the house prices!
According to various economic models a country like New Zealand requires to have at least a populationbase of 8 million people to be totally self reliant and self sustainable. Government practices of "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" are than things of the past and not required anymore.
I often compare the growing of a business to the growing of a country. When turnovers increase within a company, management has to make a decision when to appoint new staff members. What are the benefits of that new staff member and how much of the load can that staff member carry, in other words, what efficiency will be obtained through the appointments.
The same, I suggest, is applicable to immigrants coming into a country. The skills, expertise, knowledge and investment capital they all bring with them are the benefits. Yes, I agree, we may suffer a little with our infrastructure, however I am of the opinion that this will balance itself out. The economic principle of "Laissez faire, laissez passe" is certainly also applicable here.
In conclusion, I would suggest that the Government takes a more pro-active approach in Immigration. Planning and having a long term view how many people are required in New Zealand in the next 10 to 20 years would be the first step required, something what the Australian government has done.
In the meantime, it would not be a bad idea at all to open the borders for immigrants through the relaxation of certain policy sections in the various immigration categories.
