Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:614;Page:10358] 
5.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Is he concerned that information is not collected on a basis to enable him to answer my question in the House yesterday as to what percentage of refugees and immigrants have obtained paid employment within 6 months of arriving in New Zealand since the election of the Labour Government in 1999; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 No for four main reasons: first new migrants are ineligible for the unemployment benefit for 2 years; second because the household labour force survey tells us that over 88 percent of recent—that is within less than 2 years—migrants in the labour force were in employment; third because the Minister of Immigration has tightened up immigration requirements including sponsorship arrangements and links between qualifications and jobs; and fourth because we can identify the number of recent migrants needing a benefit and that number has dropped by 28 percent. In other words the information I have available is adequate for me to be able to tell a story that the member could not tell in the late 1990s because he did not have that information. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can the number of immigrants getting a benefit be 28 percent lower than it was say last year when by his own claims and the claims of his Government none of them are on a benefit; and can he clarify what he meant in the House yesterday when he said that only 1.3 percent of migrants are on the unemployment benefit today and that migrants represent about 1.3 percent of those on the unemployment benefit as well as 16 percent of the Work and Income registered job seekers in Auckland when in answer to a written question lodged with his ministry it was stated that the ministry does not record that information and thus figures are not available; so why are he and his colleagues going about giving statistics when by their own admission they have no idea what they are? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: On the first point that was asked I just reiterate that the number of recent migrants needing a benefit has dropped by 28 percent since we became the Government. The figure I read out yesterday was that in the last 5 financial years 206813 people had residence applications approved. As at 31 October 2003 the number of migrants who had lived in New Zealand for less than 5 years and who were accessing an unemployment benefit was 2717—1.3 percent of total applications. 
Georgina Beyer 
: How many recent migrants currently need the support of an emergency benefit and how does this figure compare with that for 1998? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The number of recent migrants—for the purposes of this answer let me define recent migrants as people who have arrived in the last 5 years—who received an emergency benefit in 1998 was 6514. By October 2003 this figure had dropped by 53 percent to 3066. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can the Minister go about boasting about his $21 million spending spree on immigrants whom he helped off the dole and into employment when yesterday he could not even answer a simple question in the House as to what percentage of refugees and immigrants had obtained paid employment within 6 months of arriving in New Zealand and when the August 2002 briefing paper to the incoming Minister of Immigration stated the following: “The rate at which new migrants are employed is relatively poor at 50 percent.”; why is this Minister trying to put a gloss on the situation when he knows it is an unmitigated mess? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: No boasting is going on. We announced in the Budget that we were providing $21.2 million over a 4-year period to assist migrants and refugees into work. I announced that in Auckland the other day. The problem we face of course is that while people do get jobs—and increasingly under this Government of course they do get jobs because we have much better policies in place—if people do go on to a benefit they tend to stay there in a way that is a problem for us. Therefore we are putting money into removing barriers such as English as a second language and lack of experience in the workplace. They are very very good policies. 
Georgina Beyer 
: What reports has the Minister seen on the contribution of skilled migration to New Zealand’s economy? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I note two pieces of information. Yesterday I underestimated the net economic benefit of migration. The Bell study reported that it produces a $1.7 billion per annum net gain to New Zealand. To quote from a recent discussion paper: “New Zealand is a country which has been built by immigrants. There is a longstanding acceptance of the positive role which immigration can play in meeting the demands for skill and capital to underpin economic growth.” I welcome the fact that the National Party said that and agrees with the Government’s policy on immigration. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: If everything is so fine why is his Government giving people for example not loans but grants of $8000 to become taxi-drivers—grants that are not available to New Zealanders of course? Why is it giving $3500 per person to people of the type he described in his $21 million package—grants also not available to New Zealanders of course? Is it his policy to support everybody in the world but the New Zealand taxpayer? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: With an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent I think we are doing pretty well across the whole of the population here in New Zealand. None of the $21 million announced the other day is directed towards training for taxi-drivers. All I can say to the member is that I know we have improved dramatically on the policies he had in place during his time. I know that eats him up but we are doing a whole lot better.