8. Question No. 8—ImmigrationERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 8—Immigration8. ERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by all his statements and actions on immigration?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): Yes in the context they were made and undertaken. In particular I stand by the Government's reconnecting plan which will drive our economic recovery address worker shortages and give businesses and migrants certainty. As we move into our plan to reconnect we are safely opening the border and it will allow Kiwis migrants and businesses to travel to New Zealand in a way that manages public health economic and community needs. We have also provided certainty to thousands of migrants who are in New Zealand through the creation of the 2021 resident visa. We estimate that 165000 people will be eligible who have lived in New Zealand for the last three years who work in skilled or scarce jobs. I am pleased to report that phase one of the roll-out of this visa is tracking on schedule with over 13000 applications of the forecast 15000 applications having been received and nearly 6000 applications approved meaning there are a little over 11000 new New Zealand residents. Phase two begins on 1 March when the balance of the 85000 applications will be able to apply.Erica Stanford: Can he explain why it took him nearly six weeks to amend immigration instructions to add the 200 agricultural machinery operators that the Hon Minister O'Connor announced on 12 December last year?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I would challenge the timing that that member suggests around those instructions to ensure that those farm workers and rural contractors could come into the country.Erica Stanford: Is the Minister of Immigration saying to this House that he didn't amend the instructions on 21 January this year?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I believe that that date is wrong.Erica Stanford: Can the Minister explain why when he announced a similar border exception for horticultural machinery operators in September 2020 immigration instructions were amended six days later when it took him six weeks to amend the immigration instructions this time around?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: The ability of the Government and Immigration to change instructions depends on the nature and capacity or the number of changes we are making. I'd also note that we met with the rural contractors last year asking when those instructions needed to be in place by. They said by February and they were done by February in order to allow those workers to come into the country.Erica Stanford: Does he think there might be a connection between him taking six weeks to sign off the instructions and 150 of the 190 interested contractors pulling out of the process because they couldn't get a visa in time for the harvest?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: No.Ricardo Menéndez March: Does he agree the border reopening plan should be equitable and if so will we see tourists from places like the UK being able to arrive before families from places like India are reunited?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: When the Government announced its reconnecting plan we said we'd take a managed process to opening the border. As you will see from step one through to step five we are managing the capacity of the border in order to make sure that we can manage public health risk and also to let the likes of working holiday visas into the country via step two in order for businesses who would like for wider travellers to come to New Zealand to be able to be ready for that.Erica Stanford: Did the Hon Damien O'Connor or his office make any contact with him or his office requesting that the immigration instructions be expedited due to the urgent need for these rural contractors to harvest grains for food production?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I have a number of regular conversations with my colleague the Hon Damien O'Connor where he uses some very frank language about the time frames in which he would like things to happen.Erica Stanford: Why did he amend the immigration instructions on 21 January or thereabouts the very same time that was the cut-off for applying for time-critical managed and isolation quarantine (MIQ) spots meaning none of the contractors applying for visas were able to apply for time-critical MIQ spaces to get them here in time for the harvest?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I will reiterate: I signed those instructions off soon after they were forwarded to me and they were done in a time frame which we understood would be suitable for the rural contractors after we met with them late last year.Erica Stanford: Supplementary.SPEAKER: No no the party has used its allocation.