Lees-Galloway IainIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): John Key and the National Party are completely out of touch with where most New Zealanders are at on immigration. Last night TV3 news ran a poll showing that 60 percent of New Zealanders think we need better control over our immigration system.Most New Zealanders support immigration. We are a migrant nation. We are built on immigration. We are all either migrants ourselves or the descendants of migrants. So why are New Zealanders saying that National is getting it so very very wrong on immigration? Let us listen to what people have been saying. We are not like the National Government; we will listen to what people have been saying. The Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank Grant Spencer said: … we cannot ignore that the 160000 net inflow of permanent and long-term migrants over the last 3 years has generated an unprecedented increase in the population and a significant boost to housing demand." Treasury and Immigration New Zealand themselves reported that there is a significant proportion of permanent and temporary labour migrants working in lower wage occupations and recent trends—under National—show a relative decline in the skill level of permanent migrants. Michael Barnett of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce said yesterday that there is a disconnect between the skills that the immigration system is delivering and the skills that New Zealand actually needs. The ANZ Chief Executive David Hisco said: "Let's have an honest and sensible debate about immigration using facts rather than prejudice to see if we should push the pause button." People all over New Zealand—respectable people whom this Parliament should listen to—are saying to this Government: "You are getting it wrong on immigration."Most New Zealanders question whether we have got our immigration settings right when the bulk of new migrants are going into roles like retail manager cafe manager and farm worker. That is not what immigration is supposed to be for; it is supposed to be for welcoming people who have the skills we need to grow our economy and contribute to our society. It is supposed to be about providing the skills that we are unable to supply from within New Zealand in the short term.Instead under National immigration is being used to fill low-wage low-skill low-productivity jobs and that is because some New Zealand employers say that they cannot find New Zealanders to do the job. Instead of saying to those employers: "Well why don't you offer better wages?" or "Why don't you improve your working conditions?" the National Government says: "Hey get someone from overseas pay them the minimum wage—or pay them less than the minimum wage if you can get away with it." It subjects them to working conditions that should not be tolerated in New Zealand.Over half of all new migrants settle in Auckland. That is a massive vote of no confidence in this Government for its failure to grow regional economies. Migrants who come to New Zealand know that under National there are not sufficient opportunities in the regions to move to the regions. The result is that Auckland's housing crisis which is driven by a number of factors is made even worse by the fact that that city is trying to absorb more people than it is able to.John Key Michael Woodhouse and the rest of the National Government have their heads in the sand because they desperately need to keep immigration numbers high. Population growth is the one thing that is generating economic growth in New Zealand. Without the current levels of immigration growth our GDP per capita would be growing at a pathetic 0.5 percent. That is basically nothing. That is why the National Government will not do anything to get the immigration system back to doing what it should: delivering good economic outcomes for New Zealand and delivering good settlement outcomes for new migrants.New Zealand is a country built on immigration and immigration will always be an important part of our story but National knows that it is getting it wrong on immigration. New Zealand knows that National is getting it wrong on immigration. People of experience and knowledge are telling the Government that it is getting it wrong on immigration. It is out of touch with most New Zealanders on this issue. It is just too damned arrogant to do anything about it."