Menéndez March RicardoRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. Migrant exploitation has no place in Aotearoa and certainly no one in this place should be enabling it to happen. Migrant workers are an integral part of our communities and successive Governments have treated migrant workers as expendable cogs in a broken immigration system that fails to treat workers with respect and dignity.A few years ago during the pandemic—well during the peak of the pandemic—everyone talked about how migrant workers were essential to our economy and how we should retain them. But as the pandemic moved on and the borders reopened even parties who I got the chance to work with last term such as the National Party started treating migrants once again as expendable. The truth is that Government parties turn their backs on migrants when it is politically expedient.Last term National was crying out for more workers and for greater pathways to residency. And now that they're in power they're basically turning their backs on those in communities and talking about how the previous Government opened the floodgates—language that only inflames anti-migrant sentiment in our communities. [Interruption] Those Government members who are scoffing at my comments should reflect on their own colleagues' comments in relation to migrant communities in this House and reflect on how those comments reflect in broader society. Migrant workers deserve more than red and blue teams taking turns on saying things like Chinese sounding names" when it comes to the housing crisis or talking about so-called floodgates. We deserve an immigration system that's actually committed to tackling the issues that migrant workers face particularly when it comes to exploitation.One of the practices that we still have is the practice of tying work visas to single employers a practice that creates coercive control that enables practices such as modern slavery and human trafficking—something that has been well reported. If your whole ability to remain in the country depends on a single employer you will go to great lengths to ensure that you can stay in the country even when it means going through exploitation. The safety nets available to support those exploited workers are not good enough. We know this not just because of my own work with migrant communities. Unions and the Migrant Workers Association of Aotearoa alongside other groups have long called for changes. Just this weekend the Human Rights Commission put in a report highlighting how the current system enables things like human trafficking and systemic exploitation including highlighting the modern-day slavery practices. It is time that those champions at the front lines are listened to by this Government and that we decouple work visas from single employers and end this modern-day slavery practice.This Government is actually making changes that will make life harder for migrant workers who members of this Government previously called essential and important for our communities. For example in the accredited employer work visa system the Government has now created a stand down period that forces migrants to actually leave for a year and then come back after a period of time. Members of the ACT Party have actually called on their own immigration Minister around addressing those changes. So we know that it is not just us on the left who see that this is problematic. Yet the immigration Minister sits with crossed arms while knowing that her own policies will inflict more harm more hardship and create more precarious conditions for workers.As the Government cuts jobs and creates conditions for a huge slowdown in the construction industry it is migrant workers who are facing the brunt. We're seeing companies and labour hire companies in particular such as Extrastaff Adecco ACE Global and Buildhub all closing and letting over a thousand migrant workers without jobs. Many of those migrant workers faced exploitation were promised full time hours and effectively fulltime pay only to come here to Aotearoa with no jobs to actually allow them to survive.We know that the migrant exploitation visa is not sufficient to support those workers. Many of them are now relying on grants and charity services just to make ends meet and the Minister told them that if their time is up they're not going to receive any support and they're going to be sent back. This is no way to treat migrant workers who many of us have acknowledged are essential to our economy and to our communities.Finally the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) changes. The Government announced an increase to the cap on RSE workers but has actually lowered their wages and accommodation conditions. The Government is simply happy to bring in workers while literally lowering the standards of that work. That is no way to treat our Pacific neighbours and our migrants. But migrant workers are fighting back. A shout out to the Loasi Latu family who fought back against policies that criminalised overstayers. A shout out to Noland Kinney a Waikato farmer who fought for residency pathways to Juliana Carvalho Stephanie Adams and many others who formed part of the Migrants Against Acceptable Standard of Health Aotearoa.The Green Party's got our migrant communities' back. We will keep fighting to stamp out migrant exploitation no matter where it is happening and ensure that we will fight to ensure the next Government will end the practice of tying work visas to single employers."