Tirikatene Rino: Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third ReadingText is subject to correctionTirikatene Rino: Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading[Sitting date: 30 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:3110. Text is subject to correction.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Kia ora. Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to make this short contribution in the third reading of this bill. This is an important subject matter immigration. We have heard throughout the debate this afternoon comments around how we are a nation of migrants. We are a migrant nation and there is a rich history of immigration that makes up our nation of Aotearoa New Zealand. But I would just like to add that over that thousand-year-plus period of immigration—right back to our Polynesian seafaring voyagers of yore—there is recognition of indigenous people here in Aotearoa New Zealand. That is without question. That is because we have protected specific rights based on historical ties and cultural and historical connections and distinctiveness that are unique to our country. I just wanted to state that matter.Yes we are a nation I guess where we can all say that we come from forebears who roamed and voyaged and travelled the globe but there is very much a proud indigenous people here in Aotearoa whom we represent and whom I represent in Te Tai Tonga. But this is a very important piece of legislation. I think to get to the nub of the matter we are opposing this legislation on this side of the House because it is window dressing. Although the National Government likes to talk tough: “We are going to crack down on exploitative practices by employers on migrant workers.” it is viewing this whole piece of legislation through the eyes of business through the eyes of trying to address the competitive advantage that unscrupulous employers have in exploiting migrant workers. Everything that the Government does is from the viewpoint of the employer the industry participants but it fails to address the actual rights of workers. So that is the fundamental reason why we are opposing this bill.We have heard numerous examples this afternoon. Dare I say it but most of the examples given are actually occurring within my electorate of Te Tai Tonga. If we look at the examples of the Chinese workers in the Hutt Valley who are working with no protections under New Zealand law—absolute exploitation has been taking place there—and the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme examples that the Hon Damien O’Connor made in terms of Motueka you can see the contributions that they are making right across the south right through to Queenstown. In Christchurch obviously there are lots of Filipino and Vietnamese workers who have come over on short-term arrangements who have horrific stories. If we go further down the island into Queenstown we heard numerous examples there.So that is the reason why these measures although having good intentions fail to really address the issue of protecting the workers. There is no greater example of that than the requirement for workers to actually make a complaint. What this bill does is it imposes an obligation on those highly vulnerable workers if they are being exploited to make a complaint to Immigration New Zealand. Obviously it will defeat the bill’s purpose if many of these vulnerable people are obliged to actually come forward and make a complaint. So again it is a big fail on that ground.Finally can I just quickly squeeze in if I can the issue around giving powers to immigration officers. Of course any officers be they police or immigration officers love more powers being given to them: “Yeah let’s go in there and let’s smash into some private dwellings with no warrants required.” Everyone loves more powers being given to them but it does not work. We need to give those powers to the people with the expertise in those areas such as the labour inspectorate. Unfortunately this piece of legislation does not do that and that is one of numerous reasons we have heard today as to why we oppose this bill. Kia ora.