08/03/12 - End-of-year interest hike signalled

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The Reserve Bank is signalling the first interest rate hike around the end of this year, but after that there may be just one rise a year, according to Westpac Bank economists.

But Westpac says it still thinks an extended series of interest rate rises will be needed to rein in domestic inflation, arising from the Canterbury rebuild, even in the face of a strong exchange rate.

This morning the Reserve Bank left the official cash rate (OCR) steady again at 2.5 per cent, but said the high value of the New Zealand dollar was hurting exporters.

Stepping up the concern about a high currency, Reserve Bank governor Dr Alan Bollard said this morning that sustained strength in the New Zealand dollar would keep inflation down and reduce the need for future OCR increases.

The New Zealand dollar had risen almost 7 per cent since December, measured against a basket of our trading partner currencies, while export commodity prices had tracked sideways, the Reserve Bank said.

"Given the medium term outlook for inflation, it remains prudent to hold the official cash rate at 2.5 per cent," Bollard said, in a sign that the central bank is willing to keep rates on hold for longer.

ASB Bank chief economist Nick Tuffley said the Reserve Bank put a lot of weight on the high New Zealand dollar dampening inflation, in part in an effort to "talk the dollar down".

"The Reserve Bank is clearly frustrated by the strength of the New Zealand dollar," Tuffley said. "The tone of the statement is clearly aimed at trying to bring the New Zealand dollar down to a lower level," he said.

ASB also expected the first rate rise in December, but has now spaced out further rises, every three months rather than at six weekly intervals. The cash rate was still likely to peak at 4 per cent, even though the Reserve Bank's own forecasts imply a peak of 3.25 per cent to 3.5 per cent, ASB said.

The cash rate has been at 2.5 per cent for the past year. The central bank's projections for 90-day interest rates is on a much more gradual path than in expected in December, rising from 2.8 per cent to 3 per cent by the end of this year and just 3.3 per cent by the end of next year.

Inflation had settled near the middle of the central bank's target range and inflation expectations had fallen, Bollard said.

The domestic economy was showing signs of recovery.

Household spending appeared to be picking up in the past few months and there seemed to be a recovery in building activity. The building recovery would gain strength later this year as work picked up in Canterbury after last year's quakes.

Global confidence had improved and while that was "encouraging", Bollard said financial market sentiment was still fragile and there were still risks for the global outlook.

The easing in global monetary policy and a rising appetite for risk had seen a "marked appreciation" in the New Zealand dollar.

"While helping contain inflation, the high dollar is detrimental to the tradeable sector, undermines GDP growth and inhibits rebalancing in the economy," Bollard said.

"Sustained strength in the New Zealand dollar would reduce the need for future increases in the OCR," he said.

The Reserve Bank says the risk of a significant worsening in the global economy had eased since the December Monetary Policy statement.

Earlier fears that the European sovereign debt crisis would badly affect the New Zealand economy had eased after action by central banks in Europe.

The Reserve Bank's projections show quarterly economic growth of 0.6 for both the December 2011 and March 2012 quarters, picking up gradually to 1 per cent in the December quarter this year.

The projections also show annual inflation tracking well under 2 per cent this year and at 1.5 per cent by March 2013.

The projections also assume a modest fall in the New Zealand dollar over the next few years. If that did not happen the bank would see less need to raise the official cash rate through that time. The trade-weighted index is projected to fall from 72.5 now to 71.2 by March next year.

(Source Dominion Post)

07/03/12 - Launch of Immigration New Zealand's 'Vision for 2015'

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Good morning. It’s great to be here today as the new Minister of Immigration for the launch of your Vision for 2015.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to meet senior managers at Immigration New Zealand and share with you some of my thoughts about the Government’s priorities for immigration over the next three years.

Turnaround of INZ over last three years

Firstly, I want to recognise that Immigration New Zealand has made huge progress in turning around its performance over the past three years – and that’s down to Nigel Bickle and his leadership team, and Ministerial action by my predecessor Jonathan Coleman.

I’m sure you remember that back in 2008 the Auditor General’s review found some real problems within Immigration New Zealand around leadership, timeliness, quality of decision-making and customer satisfaction.

The improvement in performance since then has been impressive. It’s clearly shown by:

• the increase in client and employer satisfaction with your services
• much better processing times;
• and a marked increase in the quality of decision-making.

For example, around half of all student visas can now be done within 48 hours online, and the average length of a call to the call centre is now around two minutes, down from a high of 14 minutes.

A lot of hard work has gone into winning back the confidence and trust of the public and the Government. These are achievements you should be very proud of.

Next phase – Govt priorities

Looking forward now, during my term as Minister I want to maintain and enhance the major improvements we’ve made.

My priorities, and those of the Government, are to see the immigration system delivering maximum value to New Zealand.

We want to be ready for the future, and deliver better services for less cost.

I’m sure you all know this is a big priority for every Government Minister, department and agency.

Vision 2015, which we are launching today, is also a big step towards these goals.

This new vision for Immigration New Zealand is about having a more flexible, responsive and efficient approach to attracting the best people to New Zealand.

A practical example of this is the new Immigration Global Management System (IGMS), as mentioned by Nigel. We are making this major investment because we see it as a way to deliver timely, responsive and secure immigration services.

The Prime Minister has clearly signalled that the public sector needs to make greater use of technology to deliver better services. This is a good example of that.

The old computer system is around 20 years old, and with Ultrafast Broadband on the way, the time is right to move to a more responsive and flexible way of doing business.

As Nigel has said, this will mean looking at the physical footprint Immigration New Zealand has. We need to focus on our key markets that can make major contributions.

Economic contribution of immigration

I keep being reminded of the fact that migrants made up 60% of New Zealand’s workforce growth in the last 5 years, and that new migrants contribute an estimated $1.9 billion a year to New Zealand’s economy. So the importance of migrants to our economy cannot be overstated.

The Government strongly believes that immigration helps to build a stronger economy and creates jobs by encouraging innovation, deepening our links with international markets and providing the skills and capital New Zealand needs for growth.

I want Immigration New Zealand to ensure the right mix of new skills and investment, as well as proactive support of key growth industries.

We’re very focused on attracting migrants who will bring the most economic benefits to New Zealand – skilled workers, business people and investors, academics, entertainers and students.

One good example of this is the business migration scheme, which was revamped in 2009 and has to date attracted over $700 million in potential investment capital.

Attracting more business migrants who have the commercial nous and global networks to help New Zealand businesses helps grow the economy and create jobs.

We’re proud of what we have done so far in the immigration area.  Some highlights include:

• The new Silver Fern Visa with 600 highly skilled young people given the opportunity to find jobs in New Zealand
• The Retirement visa gives us a foundation for attracting wealthy retirees to New Zealand
• Improvements to the RSE scheme
• Changes to the Entertainer’s Visa to provide more certainty for New Zealand’s growing film industry; and
• Boosting export education through allowing short courses to be studied while on a work or visitor visa.

Economic outcomes are always going to be a major priority. In short, we want immigration to work for New Zealand’s benefit.

A good example of this is the Canterbury rebuild. This will obviously create a huge amount of work for locals, particularly trades people, and our first priority is always jobs for New Zealanders. But we have to accept that in some industries we just won’t have enough people with the right skills.

Between June and December last year a total of 108 people were granted visas for work associated with the Christchurch rebuild, and a lot more skilled, specialist overseas workers will be needed in the future.

Another of our priorities is to get better outcomes for refugees coming to New Zealand. At the moment no single Government department has overall responsibility for meeting the needs of refugees. A centralised strategy is needed to bring together all the support that refugees can rely on, and I know you’re doing important work in this area.

Ministers have also announced a joint programme of work to improve our border management work. Immigration New Zealand, along with Customs and MAF, will be looking at ways the three agencies can work together more effectively.

Protecting our borders is a top priority, with $80 billion of exports and imports and 10 million travellers across our border each year. Recommendations for the next steps will be provided to the Government by mid-year.

Can I finish by thanking you all again for the hard work you’ve been doing.

We’ve made big strides over the last few years, but there is more work and challenges ahead.

I’m very confident though that Immigration New Zealand has dedicated and skilful staff ready to meet those challenges ahead of us.

Thank you.

(Source Beehive, N Guy, Minster for Immigration)

07/03/12 - New Immigration blueprint welcomed

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Immigration Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed the release of Immigration New Zealand’s “Vision for 2015”, a blueprint setting out how the department will continue to improve its operations over the next three years.

“Immigration New Zealand has put a lot of hard work into winning back the confidence and trust of the public and the Government. This plan is an important step towards building on these achievements,” says Mr Guy.

“Major improvements have taken place under a National-led Government. The department now makes around 500,000 visa decisions a year, and the quality and timeliness of decision making has greatly improved, along with employer and client satisfaction levels.

“In future there will be fewer visa types and application processes will be simplified, resulting in a better service for customers.

“A practical example of this is the new Immigration Global Management System (IGMS), which was approved by Cabinet just before Christmas. This $75 million investment will allow more visas to be applied for online. It’s a good example of the public sector using technology to deliver more efficient services.

“Potential changes to the branch network around the world will also be looked at as part of a drive to bring down the cost of delivering services.

“Immigration makes a major contribution to New Zealand’s economy. New migrants add an estimated $1.9 billion to our GDP every year, international students contribute $2.3 billion, and inbound tourists around $9 billion.

“We are competing with other developed countries for the same pool of potential migrants, students and visitors. This is why we need to improve how we operate.”

A summary of the Vision 2015 document is available at www.dol.govt.nz\News\Media\2012\final-vision-2015.pdf

(Source, Beehive, Nathan Guy)

05/03/12 - Govt: Make it tougher to migrate to NZ

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The Government is planning to create a two-tier immigration system that makes it more difficult for people to bring non-earning dependents into the country.

A Cabinet paper released to the Labour Party under the Official Information Act shows Immigration New Zealand is planning to create a system where applications from parents sponsored by their higher income children, or those who bring a guaranteed income or funds, would be processed faster than other applications.

Sponsors would be required to support immigrating parents for a period of 10 years, up from five, and parents would no longer be able to bring dependent children.

Parents with poor English would also need to "pre-purchase tuition''.

The sibling and adult child immigration category would be removed to reduce the number of unskilled migrants who find it more difficult to get jobs and are more likely to get benefit payments.

Labour's immigration spokeswoman Darien Fenton said New Zealand was becoming a country were only the rich were welcome.

"We roll out the red carpet for them, yet we make it near impossible for good, less well-off families.''

The paper was prepared for the first 100 days of the new government but the changes were omitted in a briefing to incoming minister Nathan Guy which was publicly released last month.

"They will come as a shock to the thousands of people in New Zealand looking to reunite their families, especially given the special treatment handed out to millionaires such as Kim Dotcom.''

(Dominion Post, Danya Levy)

05/03/12 - Plan to favour wealthy immigrants

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Poor migrants who speak little or no English are to be subject to stricter immigration laws under a review that will create a "two-tier" system to favour the wealthy, a leaked Cabinet paper shows.

Immigration categories are to be changed in an effort to "reduce the number of unskilled migrants who find it difficult to get jobs and are more likely to get benefit payments".

Applications from parents seeking residency to be with children already in New Zealand will be placed in the slow processing lane if their children-sponsors are not "high-income" people.

Parents will no longer be able to bring in dependent children and applicants who are poor in English will be required to pre-pay for language lessons.

The changes are outlined in a Cabinet paper obtained by the Labour Party, which says the plan creates a divide between the rich and famous and ordinary migrants wanting to move to New Zealand.

The paper, titled "Issues and decisions for the first 100 days - Immigration" is directed at the new Immigration Minister Nathan Guy and Associate Minister Kate Wilkinson, and shows the decision to make changes to family categories was made by the Cabinet last May.

It says that under "a new two-tier process", applications from parents who are sponsored by higher-income sponsors, or who bring guaranteed income or funds, will be processed more quickly than those from other parents.

"Tier-one parents will be eligible regardless of what country their other adult children live in, while the criteria for tier-two parents will be tightened so that only those who had no adult children living in their home country will be eligible."

The paper does not say how the wealth of parent sponsors will be assessed.

The sibling and adult category will be closed soon after the Department of Labour - which oversees Immigration NZ - provides further details on implementation and changes to the parent category to be introduced from July, the paper says.

The changes are aimed at reducing costs incurred through the benefit system and to attract and retain skilled and productive migrants, it says.

Last year, 36 per cent (or 14,826) of all New Zealand residence approvals were family-sponsored migrants.

Of these, 4036 were approved under the parent policy and 1186 under the sibling and adult child category.

China and India have been the main source countries for immigrants under the two categories in the past three years.

Labour's immigration spokeswoman, Darien Fenton, said the proposed changes showed National's true values - that "money is all that matters".

"This will come as a shock for the thousands of people in New Zealand looking to reunite their families, especially given the special treatment handed out to millionaires such as Kim Dotcom," she said.

"We are becoming a country where only those with money are welcome."

Immigration expert Paul Spoonley said some of the proposed changes, such as stopping parents bringing in dependent children "seem harsh and unusual".

A spokesman for Mr Guy said the minister was unavailable for comment yesterday, but would "get on to this" today.

(Source NZ Herald, Lincoln Tan)

03/03/12 - Editorial: Immigration's self-serving edict must go

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If any Government service should be sticking to the straight and narrow, it is surely Immigration New Zealand.

Too often over the past decade it has shown every indication of being a law unto itself. Yet a series of reputation-sullying incidents have not been enough to stop it stumbling into another of its own making.

A directive to its officials not to record information to avoid judicial reviews and extra paperwork has, quite rightly, attracted criticism.

In its calculated nature, it betrays a flippant notion towards concepts of accountability and transparency that should, in fact, be underpinning the service's behaviour.

The directive relates to section 61 of the Immigration Act, under which officers can grant visas to those unlawfully in this country and not subject to a deportation order. Their decisions are open to review by the Ombudsman. Last November, staff were told not to "record any reasons or rationale" in all such cases. According to operational policy official Kathy Tait, "they [resolution officers] strongly feel that including rationale just opens up the risk of judicial review and Ombudsman complaints".

Undoubtedly that is the case, and this creates additional, sometimes irksome, work. But the rationale for any official decision must be expected to pass outside scrutiny. To suggest otherwise is to eliminate transparency in decision-making and to diminish any prospect of accountability. It also flies in the face of the Public Records Act, which requires that "every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal prudent business practice".

Immigration NZ has eschewed such niceties in favour of a wholly self-serving approach. Unfortunately, that is far from unusual. This was the service responsible for an internal memo in 2003 stating that "everyone had agreed to lie in unison" about the apprehension of Ahmed Zaoui. At much the same time, it kept in-house the case of a staff member who asked for sexual favours from a young woman seeking residency.

This was also the service from which, more recently, its head, Mary Anne Thompson, resigned over indiscretions that included helping relatives enter New Zealand. It is a record that should have persuaded its managers to steer well clear of any policy that threatened further opprobrium.

Perhaps worst of all, the new directive suggests a disgraceful attitude towards official information requests remains alive within the service. It was suggested in November that the Ombudsman should be contacted for comment on the instruction. But this has happened only recently after concerns were raised. There are echoes here of the contemptuous attitude of the service in the handling of an Ombudsman's request for information in 2003. Media logs were not handed over in the first instance, even though the Ombudsman had advised six years earlier that they carried official information status.

In that case, there was little inclination to observe the obligations of public servants under the Official Information Act. The new directive is a blatant attempt to torpedo any inquiries by denying documentation. This disdainful attitude to the Ombudsman and, by extension, the public is wholly inappropriate for a service that wields considerable influence. Matters of public interest must be handled transparently, and officials must be able to be held accountable. This directive must be rescinded.

(Source NZ Herald)

29/02/12 - Nigerian living in NZ under false identity jailed for passport fraud

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A Nigerian man who has been living in New Zealand under a false identity since 2003 has been sent to prison for more than two years for passport fraud.

Jeffrey Ugochukwu Orji, 39, was found guilty at the Pukekohe District Court today (Wed) of eight offences involving the use of a false passport and one charge of possessing a false passport.

He has been sentenced to two years and three months' imprisonment.

Orji's offending was revealed in 2009 when forensic examination of the passport eventually connected it to a batch of blank stolen Nigerian passports, Immigration New Zealand Intelligence, Risk and Integrity general manager Steve Stuart said.

"While international security standards for passports have improved over the years, the ability of criminals to obtain legitimate passports fraudulently, or produce very high quality fakes, is a real challenge for immigration and border agencies internationally," he said.

Orji could face deportation when he is released from prison, Mr Stuart said.

(Source NZ Herald)

27/02/12 - Bureaucrats' burying visa decisions 'a blatant act of law breaking'

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Instructions to immigration officials not to record information to avoid judicial reviews and extra paperwork have outraged civil libertarians, who are calling it a deliberate attempt to avoid accountability.

The Immigration New Zealand directive to staff concerns section 61 of the Immigration Act, which empowers the Immigration Minister to grant a visa to a person who is unlawfully in New Zealand and not subject to a deportation order.

This power is delegated to Immigration NZ officials and decisions are open to review by the Ombudsman.

In November last year Immigration NZ issued instructions to staff not to "record any reasons or rationale" in all cases involving section 61, including those that are thrown out without being considered, and those that are considered and are accepted or declined.

Department emails released under the Official Information Act and published on left-wing blog No Right Turn reveal that the instructions were given to lessen the workload and avoid the possibility of complaints.

"They [resolutions officers] strongly feel that including rationale just opens up to the risk of judicial review and ombudsman complaints," wrote Immigration NZ business analyst Kathy Tait, operational policy.

Lynne White, operations support senior adviser, replied: "It seems more logical to me not to include rationale for the reasons given by Resolutions.

"I wouldn't want to make it mandatory to put something [rationale] in AMS [department database] which is likely to generate more work and complaints for branches."

Two days after this email exchange, it was suggested that the department contact the Ombudsman for comment, but this never happened.

Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Thomas Beagle said the instructions could violate the Public Records Act, which requires that "every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice".

Failure to comply with the act regarding an individual could see a $5000 fine.

Mr Beagle said hiding under a complete lack of documentation was against the way a transparent and accountable Government should operate.

"It's so concerning that they're being so blatant about it. They're actually deliberately trying to work around the Public Records Act, and they're deliberately doing that to block the Ombudsman's inquiries, and those are important elements in the transparency of a Government."

George Mason, general counsel for the Department of Labour, which includes Immigration NZ, said he did not believe the directive violated any laws.

However, in light of concerns the department was now in discussions with the Ombudsman.

THE DIRECTIVE

• Under section 61 of the Immigration Act, immigration officers can grant visas to those unlawfully in New Zealand and not subject to a deportation order
• In November, Immigration NZ instructed officials not to record reasons for their decisions relating to s61 to avoid the risk of complaints and extra work
• Civil libertarians say this is not how a transparent and accountable Government should operate, and question if it violates the Public Records Act

16/02/12 - Government steps up border management work

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The Government’s three border agencies are stepping up work to make trade and travel more efficient through better co-ordination of border services.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter, Customs Minister Maurice Williamson and Immigration Minister Nathan Guy today announced “Future Directions for the Border Sector”, a work programme to look at how the three agencies can operate together more effectively.

“A wide range of collaborative work is already underway across the three agencies. This new programme will build on the progress made in improving trade and travel services, while keeping a firm focus on border security,” says Mr Carter.

“It is about taking a fresh look at the functions of each agency and how co-ordination of the overall border management system can be improved.

“Protecting the integrity of New Zealand’s biosecurity system is a top priority. With $80 billion of exports and imports and 10 million travellers across our border each year, this must not be compromised,” Mr Carter says.

The Ministers say travel and trade patterns are changing rapidly as New Zealand interacts with more international partners, tourism is increasing and pressure is building for more streamlined travel.

“This work programme will build on a number of joint initiatives already overseen by the Border Sector Governance Group to improve information sharing and the targeting of risk at the border,” says Mr Williamson.

“An example is the Joint Border Management System (JBMS), a new information system developed by Customs and MAF, which is leading to reduced duplication and fragmentation of border services and lower costs for industry and government.”

The Ministers say the work is consistent with the Government’s goal of delivering better public services across the board.

“New technologies are giving us access to information faster and we should be using this to improve our effectiveness at the border,” says Mr Guy.

“We must ensure that our border is fit for the future. An efficient border management system is critical to New Zealand’s economic growth and prosperity.”

The work programme will provide recommendations to the Government by mid-year.

(Source Beehive, David Carter, Nathan Guy, Maurice Williamson)

08/02/12 - Speech to Bali Process Immigration Workshop

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