McDowall JamesDr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT): Talofa lava Mr Speaker. Budget 2021 was the chance for new initiatives and aspirational reform in the immigration space and to provide hope for all New Zealand businesses who are frankly sick and tired of being chastised for keeping their operations alive by employing desperately needed migrants. Businesses are doing everything they can to find and train up locals and have to prove this to Immigration New Zealand but they've also told me that it's not particularly helpful when the Government constantly implies that many of these sectors are low skilled unattractive and not a great career pathway. The Government isn't exactly selling it to locals. Businesses all over New Zealand have been through the wringer when it comes to their workforce needs in their interactions with Immigration New Zealand. In terms of managing expectations around Budget 2021 that wasn't really a problem for business owners. The recent commentary from the likes of the Minister of Immigration the Minister of Tourism and even the Prime Minister provided the backdrop to what they could expect from this Budget which was absolutely nothing. No new initiatives at Immigration New Zealand no aspiration no real solutions for migrants overall—just a Government that after four years still tries to put all the blame on business owners and migrants themselves who pay their fair share of tax and got absolutely nothing other than continued headache and heartache.What we're left with is a significant missed opportunity for reinvention and the chance for a positive strategy for the so-called immigration reset has gone begging. Talk of an immigration reset has been going on since before the 2020 election so there's been no shortage of time to develop a strategy and use the opportunity of Budget 2021 to map a clear path forward. But perhaps they've just been too busy trying to deal with their self-inflicted visa application chaos. All we're getting is the usual reviews in the policies and processes and even the forthcoming changes to work visas took far longer than originally promised. And given the way the roll-out is designed it will almost certainly create unintended consequences. Businesses and migrants have been asking why the Minister of Immigration has not confronted the obvious when it comes to immigration's role in our post - COVID-19 economic recovery. The rhetoric from the Government particularly in recent weeks is divisive and tone deaf. To suggest that businesses nationwide need to stop employing hard-working migrants drive up costs and therefore their prices and fill vacancies in areas with skill shortages is not only ignorant it's economic sabotage especially in the regions. I'll be honest though. I suspect the Government's strategy if you can call it a strategy is actually just going to fizz out into nothing and subsequent rhetoric will be a mix of backtracking and verbal gymnastics—probably during question time—because they can't change reality. Sectors will be crying out for migrants whether highly skilled or in more manual jobs and the Government may just have to give in and quietly put the whole immigration reset concept on ice. It was also intriguing to hear from the Reserve Bank last week in a select committee when my colleague Damien Smith asked if the Government had given them any indication as to future immigration levels to assist with their economic forecasting. Evidently the Government hadn't and I think we can safely assume that this is because the Government doesn't know either and the bankers are left guessing in their models. I suspect there's a fair bit of that going around particularly as we look at forecasts around productivity employment and inflation. Not everyone in the immigration space was left empty-handed by Budget 2021 though. Immigration New Zealand itself got a significant bailout in February with more to come. And I sincerely hope that they use this stake to get on with the job at hand: get visas processed reunite families and get investment back into New Zealand fast. We have an immigration system that is at breaking point a visionless Government that seems totally disconnected from the realities of doing business. Whether a person owns a small cafe a restaurant a high-tech start-up or an apple orchard they're paying their weight in tax providing jobs for migrants and Kiwis and they want some answers.ACT would start again with the whole system: create aspirational and efficient pathways that reward skilled migrants and be truly business-led when it comes to work visas as opposed to the Government's plan which may drastically increase migrant exploitation and unemployment. We certainly wouldn't blame businesses for lacklustre Government policy around training initiatives. We would empower them because it's business owners who know best when it comes to their workforce needs and the needs of the economy as a whole. Thank you Mr Speaker.