Blue Jackie: Immigration Bill — In Committee 
Blue Jackie: Immigration Bill — In Committee 
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Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak in the Committee stage of the Immigration Bill. It is a significant bill. I was not part of the discussions that took place in the committee during the last term of Parliament. The purpose of this bill is as the Minister said to do a complete rewrite of the 1987 Act and certainly the world has changed dramatically since that time. The world migration flows have changed dramatically travel is cheaper it is easier to get around places are more accessible and of course on the way we have had September 11 which really put the world on notice of security problems at our borders. 
Since the 1987 legislation there have been a number of amendments. The old legislation is very complex and this bill attempts to simplify it. As it is New Zealand is very much dependent on migration and each year we bring in 45000 permanent migrants. In the 2007-08 year we approved a record 188000 temporary work permits. Over the last 5 years permanent and temporary migrants have accounted for 60 percent of the growth of our workforce helping to sustain and grow New Zealand business so migrants do contribute hugely to New Zealand’s economy. Of course with an ageing population in New Zealand and over 600000 New Zealanders living offshore it is not too surprising that one in four workers was born overseas and in Auckland that figure is even greater at one in three workers. 
The bill sets out to simplify the visa system. The 1987 Act currently provides for a visa for travel to New Zealand a permit for permission to stay in New Zealand and exemptions as some people do not have to hold a visa or permit or both. So this bill establishes a universal visa system that is simpler and more flexible in managing non-citizens’ travel to and stay in New Zealand. The visa will signify that the holder has the right to travel or stay in New Zealand. The bill establishes three classes of visa—the resident visa temporary entry visa and transit visas. 
It is unfortunate that we inherited a dysfunctional Immigration Service with poor management practices a silo mentality and an unacceptable variation in the quality of decision making between branches. That came out with the Auditor-General’s review. I know that our Minister is determined to address these deficiencies and has the department working on implementing the recommendations of the Auditor-General’s report. The chief executive officer has appointed an adviser to assist and monitor the reform. 
As an example of changing the culture a scheme was started in August this year. It has been trialled in the hospitality and tourism sector whereby Immigration New Zealand must advise applicants in a timely way of the status of their temporary work permits. That will go some way to help change the culture. It is a more reactive approach in terms of making sure that permits can be assessed and processed in a more timely way. 
This bill will hopefully in part go some way to addressing the National Government’s immigration aims and they are to retain Kiwis and attract more home. Certainly policies have been produced by the Government to meet our skill needs and to attract business and retired migrants. There has been a significant business migrant policy which has become more flexible with reduced English level requirements in order to try to attract migrants with significant skills and to provide financial back-up to New Zealand. I am sure we will benefit from that. In the last business migrant policy under the previous Government there were very few applicants. They were in the range of 10 to 20 or thereabouts. Of course we need to have a better Immigration Service and I believe this bill will go some way towards achieving that. 
On the way we had September 11 and what happened then shocked the world. I looked at the recent statistics of migrants and flows coming in and out of New Zealand before and after September 11 and it was quite astonishing. People virtually stopped in their tracks overnight. New Zealanders came back to New Zealand in their droves people did not go away from New Zealand on their OEs and the world basically stood still. It is really recovering only now but of course the recession has also had a further impact on that. This bill looks at security measures and has some more provisions for immigration officers so that we can make sure that security is maintained.