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ELECTION 2020
By Gill Bonnett Immigration Reporter- RNZ
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the border will reopen sooner than people think and mass immigration should be consigned to the past .
Labour says there will be a new normal - while National wants to introduce a tech visa , ushering in highly skilled overseas workers and entrepreneurs . The closed border may not have killed the immigration debate at this election , but it has made it more complicated .
Labour said it was not realistic to set numbers on new residents and temporary workers in the current climate .
Immigration spokesperson Kris Faafoi said Covid has forced industry to reconsider where its workforce comes from .
" From the very first moment that I became the Minister of Immigration a couple of months ago we
Immigration reset or a new normal ?
Immigration spokespeople in the 2020 election campaign ( from left ): Labour ' s Kris Faafoi ; the National party ' s Stuart Smith ; Golriz Ghahraman of the Greens ; ACT ' s James McDowall and NZ First leader Winston Peters . Photo : RNZ
were sending a strong message to sectors who were crying out for labour from offshore that they had to start rethinking things for the medium and long term .
“ As we start seeing the effect that Covid has on New Zealand workers , we start prioritising them and the training opportunities and the wage opportunities that will come out of that as well . " I do think that because of our success with fighting Covid in comparison to other countries , that New Zealand will be an extremely attractive place for people to want to potentially come to .
“ The challenge for New Zealand is how to use that increase in demand to make sure that you ' re getting the right kinds of skills in and maximising the opportunity to economically , culturally and socially bounce back from the effects of Covid ."
Managed isolation ( MIQ ) is predominantly for New Zealand residents and citizens , but Labour wants to open up a quota for skilled workers and investors .
" We do know that we ' ve got to make sure about our capacity to grow , using MIQ capacity for that and and that looking at what kinds of skills and talent we want to bring into New Zealand is important for us to be able to bounce back from the economic effects of Covid .
" We are certainly keen on making sure that we can bring talented individuals and companies to
New Zealand to invest ."
National Party immigration spokesperson Stuart Smith said immigration numbers should be led by business needs rather than government targets .
The first priority was the safety of the border , he said , but overseas workers were needed to fill gaps in the economy .
" I think that ' s been one of the major failings at the moment - we haven ' t fully utilised all of the capacity that ' s available for quarantining . And we have businesses crying out for specialists to come in who can ' t get in the country because they just simply won ' t give them quarantine space ."
National ' s technology growth policy would see fast-tracked processes for overseas investors and entrepreneurs , and tech visas for skilled workers .
In time the technology sector could equal dairy in terms of revenue , he said .
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