9. Question No. 9—ImmigrationERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 9—Immigration9. ERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by his statement that There's some evidence that when people come from offshore and get into nursing roles that they might leave a bit sooner – if they get residence"; if so does he also stand by his answer related to who gave him this evidence that "we spoke to the likes of the Aged Care Association and other home-based care stakeholders … we also kept in close contact with the Ministry of Health"?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): In answer to the member's first question yes. In answer to her second question yes.Erica Stanford: Why did he include the Aged Care Association and other home-based care stakeholders in his answer to who he received evidence from when the only two sector bodies he consulted with—the Aged Care Association and the Home and Community Health Association—have both stated that they did not provide him any such evidence or any suggestion that nurses leave their profession once gaining residence?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Because when we did engage at least with the Aged Care Association they outlined to us that they had concerns around retention of nurses.Erica Stanford: Point of order Mr Speaker. I seek leave to table two emails sent to me from the Aged Care Association and the Home and Community Health Association stating they never provided such evidence.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action? There appears to be none.Erica Stanford: Was the evidence he referred to by "keeping in close contact with the Ministry of Health" recorded data collected by District Health Boards (DHBs) of what migrant nurses do when they resign or was it simply anecdotes from the Ministry of Health officials given that DHBs do not keep such records and therefore wouldn't be in a position to provide such evidence?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: The evidence that we relied on in terms of data I understand is Nursing Council of New Zealand data which goes through the Ministry of Health and which was sourced by Immigration officials.Erica Stanford: What percentage of migrant nurses leave their profession after gaining residence based on that evidence he says he's received?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As we went through the process of understanding the situation and retention concerns within the sector my understanding: it's not necessarily about gaining residence. In 2020 the Nursing Council figures showed that 6 percent of migrant nurses exited nursing in comparison to 4 percent of New Zealand nurses who exited nursing in that year. When we took our decision around the rebalance we wanted to make sure that we were making a simple pathway for nurses in order to attract nurses here to deal with retention issues and not make a situation around retention any worse which was a concern of those who were consulted.Erica Stanford: Can the Minister explain why he didn't use section 49 of the Immigration Act to give migrant nurses immediate but conditional residence that would be conditional on them working as a nurse for two years thereby putting us in a more competitive position with the likes of Australia who gives immediate residence to nurses?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: We took a decision during the rebalance to give a simple and streamlined pathway to nurses. They if they stay in nursing when they come to New Zealand have residence after two years. Now we have opened that pathway to 12 more cohorts of nurses pre-COVID and under that member's previous Government it was only available to aged-care nurses. We have expanded that to a broad range of 13 nurses. The nursing sector is much better off as a result of our rebalance.Erica Stanford: Point of order Mr Speaker. I don't believe that the Minister addressed the question as to why he didn't use section 49 of the Immigration Act.SPEAKER: I was about to pull him up for going on too long about it.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I withdraw and apologise."