Jones Dail: Immigration Amendment Bill — Instructions to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Jones Dail: Immigration Amendment Bill — Instructions to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:611;Page:8282] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 There is no doubt about New Zealand First’s history with regard to immigration. When New Zealand First came into office the immigration figures were coming down and down. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: You did nothing. 
DAIL JONES 
: I checked the figures myself and they were coming down and down. There is no doubt about it. I was in practice in Auckland then and one could see around Auckland that young people were able to buy their homes because there was not the pressure on the housing market. Parents could get young people into a school because there was not the pressure on education and people could get into a hospital—[ 
Interruption 
] I say for the benefit of the member for Whanganui that women in Auckland cannot even have a baby without walking into the maternity ward and being told to be out in 2 hours which is what happened to a pregnant woman in Auckland within only the last few days. She went into North Shore Hospital and was told that she could be there for only 2 hours to have her baby and then leave. 
Under New Zealand First there was a good health system a good education system and one could buy a house—something that a young person cannot do today. Only the speculators are profiting by this Labour Party policy—once again as usual. The Labour Party has always done this when it has come into office. I remember that it was the same in 1972 to 1975 and it is the same now. Property prices are soaring under this Labour Party. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: Rubbish! 
DAIL JONES 
: It is not rubbish. It is happening in Ponsonby all the time. A dreadful little place that 2 years ago was worth $310000 is now worth $600000. Is that not speculation? Judith Tizard would not have the faintest idea about what is happening in Auckland and she is supposed to be the Minister with responsibility for Auckland Issues. 
New Zealand First is opposed to this Labour Party policy which has made no change whatsoever to immigration numbers. The Minister of Immigration is like a magician. She tries to fiddle her particulars but in actual fact there is no change. We are wasting our time putting this legislation through. It will not improve anything in so far as a young person trying to buy a house or to get to a school is concerned. The Minister laughs. OK it might be all right in Christchurch but it is not like that in Auckland. Labour members can laugh but it is not like that in Auckland. This is what members who live in Auckland and serve the Auckland electoral system and the constituents in the Auckland area have to put up with. To put an end to the Minister’s story about how long applications will take Access Immigration New Zealand has indicated that applications will have at least a 12-month delay. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
DAIL JONES 
: Before the dinner break one of the interjections I received from the Minister of Immigration was a criticism of the figures when New Zealand First was involved in the Government. So I got out those figures because she gave the clear impression that immigration figures had increased during that time. I go back to 1993—and these figures were compiled by David Williams of the Parliamentary Library. They show that in 1993 permanent and long-term arrivals were 49562. The net figure came to 6848. In 1996—I am covering election years—there were 80288 permanent and long-term arrivals and the net figure was 29832. So the National Government had increased those figures from 49000 to 80000 during its 3 years in office. From 1996 to 1999 which included 2 of the 3 years of New Zealand First the figures went from 80288 down to 56580 and we had net permanent and long-term arrivals of minus 10199. So when we say we will get immigration down we do mean it. We will take action to do it. Of course again by the year 2002 the figure had gone up to 88365 under the Labour administration. 
One of the interesting things about the Waikato University paper was that it showed there seemed to be a 3-year cyclical way of looking at immigration. Certain parties want immigration figures to be high just before an election and other parties want them to be low because of their particular policies. New Zealand First is unabashed about the fact that we want New Zealand to be primarily for New Zealanders. We want a certain number of skilled people from overseas and we do not want the flood that comes in under the National Party or the tremendous flood that comes in under the Labour Party. 
Jill Pettis 
: What flood did that member come in on? 
DAIL JONES 
: I came in possibly on Noah’s flood according to some of the members of this House—I have been here as long as that. 
As far as the policies are concerned the Minister is absolutely wrong yet again in trying to suggest that New Zealand First’s figures do not somehow meet its policies when it is in Government. We believe in New Zealand for New Zealanders.