9. Immigration—Work Visas and Exploitation of International StudentsIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of ImmigrationImmigration—Work Visas and Exploitation of International Students9. IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of Immigration: How many of the 209000 work visas issued last year were for occupations on one of the Essential Skills in Demand lists?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration): I interpreted the primary question with reference to lists to mean the Immediate Skill Shortage List the Long Term Skill Shortage List and the Canterbury Skill Shortage List. It is impossible to get an exact number of visas issued under those lists because of differences in the timing between the period of the number of work visas and the changes to the lists in that time. However the best estimate officials have provided me in the time available is that between 15000 and 16000 work visas were issued for occupations on those lists.Iain Lees-Galloway: Do cafe manager" "retail manager" "winery cellar hand" or "deckhand" appear on an essential skills and demand list; if not why are so many visas being issued for those occupations? Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Not having the lists with me I would have to check. If the member is implying by his question that they do not it is important to bear in mind that a visa can be issued under the essential skills category even though occupations may not be on those lists but the employer would first need to demonstrate that there is not a New Zealander available to do the job. I reassure the member that that is an onerous test.Iain Lees-Galloway: If visas are being issued for occupations that are not on the skills shortage list because of labour shortages why does he not allow wages to increase for occupations in which there is a labour shortage rather than using immigration to suppress wages?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I reject the inference in the question. Wages are growing ahead of inflation and jobs are growing right across the country. If that member got out of his ivory tower and went to the regions and talked with employers in those regions the No. 1 thing they are saying is that they cannot find the labour we need.Iain Lees-Galloway: How can he claim that immigration is not being used to suppress wages when Westpac says wage growth is missing in action and Capital Economics say wage growth is likely to remain low until at least 2018 and that both of those reputable organisations say the blame lies squarely with overly high numbers of immigration?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: In respect of the last part of that question I draw the member's attention to certain data on how many essential skills work visas were issued for the first time in the year 2007-08. That year there were 16118 according to the official information—the estimates I have been given. Last year there were half of those numbers: 8329. If the member is concluding from those numbers—from that information—that wage growth is being suppressed because of extra demand for labour that is completely the opposite of the data.Iain Lees-Galloway: Why will he not listen to Westpac Capital Economics the Reserve Bank the BNZ the Auckland chamber of commerce Treasury his own immigration officials and the New Zealand public and carry out a comprehensive review of immigration settings? Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Two things: we listened to a number of stakeholders in this including them—including my own officials who are estimating that essential skills visas both first-time granted and total are going down by between 40 and 50 percent. I am also going to listen to the employers in those regions who are crying out for the sorts of people whom they need to prevent fruit from rotting on the vine and to allow cows to be milked and elderly to be looked after in our aged-care sector. I would love it if every single one of those jobs was filled by a New Zealander; that is not the reality now and it was not when they were in office.Ron Mark: Can the Minister tell the House again: why is this Government allowing thousands of overseas students to come here to be exploited and extorted by other immigrants of their own ethnicity?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: The question has nothing to do with the primary question but I will address it nevertheless. This is a very important industry and one that is held in high regard globally. It earns $3 billion a year and employs nearly 26000 people. There are no doubt problems in the student market and particularly in the subcontinent which is why more than half of the visas presently applied for from that part of the world are being declined. I am satisfied that we are on top of the issue and being diligent about it.Ron Mark: How would he reply to a young foreign student when she asked why an Auckland cafe owner demanded that she pay $30000 to get the job she was applying for?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I would reassure that student that the Government takes that form of exploitative practice very seriously which is why last year we significantly increased the sanctions—[Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Carry on.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: —for exploitation of people lawfully entitled to be here. The punishments are now 7 years in jail up to a maximum of a $100000 fine and if they themselves are recent residents they can be liable for deportation."