Pillay Lynne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Pillay Lynne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:614;Page:10282] 
10.  
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Do official figures confirm reports that “Hundreds of thousands of Third World immigrants have arrived here since Labour was elected in 1999”? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 No. The average rate of residence approvals has been just over 40000 per year for the past 4 years. Even if a country like the United Kingdom were counted as a Third World country we still would not come close to “hundreds of thousands” of total migrants since 1999 let alone those from the Third World. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What action has the Government taken to ensure that recent migrants are those who can make a contribution to New Zealand? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: If only I had all afternoon! I will just mention a couple. We have introduced English language requirements for business migrants which were not introduced by the previous Government. We have increased English language requirements for skilled migrants in order to make sure they can get into skilled work. We have introduced the talent visa which is the new skilled migrant category that takes effect this month and we have introduced strict sponsorship requirements around family migrants resulting in plummeting claims for the emergency unemployment benefit which has dropped by over 44 percent since 1999. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I ask the Minister why she has risen in this House and given out those figures when her department gives the total number as 221630 and when the Minister for Ethnic Affairs says that 300000 people this year in New Zealand speak little or no English especially as the First World countries are not mentioned at all in the new language programme for people from the Third World; is not the fact that not one First World country is in those language programmes the evidence behind the pamphlet that is now being read in Christchurch and Auckland? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Just for a rough estimate I went over the countries described as having least developed nation status in order to find an equivalence for the words “Third World country” and I discovered that since 1997-98—that is for the last 6 years—a total of 20106 people came from those countries. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Minister agree that the New Zealand First immigration pamphlet that contains the statement about Third World immigrants is simply racist? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Yes. 
Darren Hughes 
: What effect does she think the circulation of grossly misrepresented statistics has on the thousands of hard-working migrants who are making an invaluable contribution to life in New Zealand? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Everything this Government has done in immigration policy has been to improve settlement outcomes for new migrants to this country. We have had a history in this country of counting the numbers who come in and of previous Governments who do not care what happens to them after they arrive. It is hard for new migrants to settle in a country when they are victims of propaganda designed for purposes of cynical political manipulation—and members who behave in that way should be ashamed of themselves. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Are you going to give her the Valium or me? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am going to give the member the opportunity to ask a supplementary question—which he may now do. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why on earth would the Minister for Ethnic Affairs say in April this year that 300000 people are now here who speak little or no English and then why would the language services being set up by the Government have no First World country’s language at all—if any of the evidence that the Minister of Immigration has sought to recite today has a shred of truth to it? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Because I understand that the ethnic affairs information which was provided to back up the piloting of an interpreter service covers all of those in New Zealand who are not confident in using English. That includes some people born to New Zealanders who are New Zealand citizens in their own right but who do not come from an English-speaking background. It comes from people from Pacific nations. It also comes from a number of others who are not confident in English. That member should look at himself before he distorts statistics and tries to make people in our country—who are welcome here—feel they are unwelcome. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: For the edification of the Minister and her colleagues I seek leave to table 107 copies of this brilliantly factual pamphlet on immigration entitled:  
Whose Country is it Anyway?. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that. Is there any objection? There is.