11. Question No. 11—ImmigrationANNA LORCK (Labour—Tukituki) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 11—Immigration11. ANNA LORCK (Labour—Tukituki) to the Minister of Immigration: Kia orana Mr Speaker. What announcements has the Government made in relation to the RSE scheme for next season's harvest?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): Kia orana Mr Speaker. Yesterday we announced that the Government will work to open up one-way quarantine-free travel to New Zealand from Samoa Tonga and Vanuatu for Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme workers without having to use the managed isolation and quarantine system. I meet with the leaders of the hort' and viticulture sector every fortnight and I've heard directly the difficulties they have faced as a result of the COVID border closures. We are committed to working with them to ensure they get the required RSE workers for the upcoming harvest. I also note that this will have a positive impact on the Pacific nations. This is also important for a New Zealand perspective given the challenges that COVID has had on many of our Pacific neighbours.Anna Lorck: How has this announcement on RSE been received?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I am aware of reports of growers expressing strong support for the Government's decision around the one-way quarantine-free travel arrangement. Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Nadine Tunley has said that this means a huge amount to our growers. Central Otago mayor Tim Cadogan said the announcement was fantastic news for local fruitgrowers and New Zealand Apples and Pears CEO Alan Pollard said he was really delighted that workers were going to be able to have an opportunity to participate back in the workforce here and return those much-needed funds back to their community. I'd like to thank Alan for his text last night too.Anna Lorck: How has the Government been working with the sector leaders in the lead-up to the RSE announcement?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As I mentioned Minister O'Connor and I have been meeting with the hort' and vit' sector leadership on a fortnightly basis to work through the impacts of the closed border on their sectors. Conversations have been very constructive. In the most recent engagement last week I discussed our objectives for quarantine-free travel with the Pacific and they've taken the news well as I've said. Again I'd like to thank the hort' and vit' sector leaders for their engagement. It has not always been easy but it has always been respectful.Erica Stanford: Can the Minister explain why only RSE workers from Samoa Tonga and Vanuatu are allowed to skip MIQ and not other workers from these countries given this is the tightest labour market in 40 years?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As you can imagine one of the key components of us coming to an arrangement with the Pacific around quarantine-free travel is the health and safety of those Pacific nations. We want to stage the ability of bringing people through quarantine-free travel and being able to start that with RSE workers is a good way to start. We hope that if we can continue along that path and it is both safe for New Zealand and safe for the Pacific we will be able to expand the number of people coming from those three countries and beyond the Pacific. I think the member might want to have a look at the experience of Fiji over the last two or three months to make sure that we are taking into consideration the safety of the Pacific nations and the health of the Pacific nations when we are making these decisions. The RSE decision is great for our hort' and vit' sector here but fundamentally we want to make sure our Pacific neighbours are safe as well. And I'm sure that members of the Opposition would like to do that too.