PM Jacinda Ardern will soon have the chance to reverse policy that prioritises Asia-Pacific immigrants over refugees from Africa and the Middle East. But how did that policy get made in the first place? After the attacks on Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, attention has returned to restrictions on African and Middle Eastern refugees … Read more
The annual national Race Unity Speech awards happened in Auckland on Saturday, where six of New Zealand’s best high school speakers addressed how we can improve race relations. Year 13 Mount Albert Grammar School student Takunda Muzondiwa spoke about struggling to stay connected to her home in Zimbabwe, while trying to create a new home in … Read more
For Auckland is a new Spinoff podcast of civic conversations with people working to create and sustain a better Auckland for all. In episode two host Timothy Giles spoke to Pauline Winters about migration. Auckland is preparing for a population of two million residents. Migration continues to play a huge role in shaping the city. … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bi-partisan changes to gun laws announced, immigration minister urged to step in on visas of attack victim families, and stats lay bare Islamophobia in media. The first major law change since the Christchurch terrorist attacks has been announced. The PM has announced that all of the weapons … Read more
A group of Indian students who were kicked out of New Zealand say their lives are ruined, and that electioneering Labour MPs, including Jacinda Ardern, promised help but went silent after coming to power. This story was originally published on RNZ Few people celebrated Labour’s 2017 return to power more than a broke, unemployed IT … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wally Haumaha to keep job despite criticism in IPCA report, state of the immigration system in focus, and quarterly stats show economic slowdown. The appointment of Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha has been a festering sore of a story over much of the year. From the criticisms raised by … Read more
National MPs have been railing against the ‘Global Compact’. Sam Bookman sets the record straight on the United Nations agreement and what it really means for immigration. As Kiwis, we consider ourselves pretty good global citizens. We like to believe that from our corner of the South Pacific we can play an outsized role in world … Read more
The immigration minister has revealed that Czech convicted drug smuggler Karel Sroubek is liable for deportation after all. Does it all mean Lees-Galloway should resign, as some have demanded? Toby Manhire battles it out with Toby Manhire A review of evidence in the case of Karel Sroubek, the Czech drug smuggler who Iain Lees-Galloway decided … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Karel Sroubek case gets even stranger, industrial action rumbles away among court staff, and letting fees to be gone by Christmas. The residency decision on Czech drug dealer Karel Sroubek is starting to look stranger and stranger by the day. The NZ Herald’s Jared Savage has broken the latest: … Read more
As the number of New Zealand citizens deported from Australia grows, so too does the death toll. Don Rowe reports on the rising human costs of Australia’s immigration reforms. This feature was made possible thanks to reader contributions via Spinoff Members. See here for more. In June 2017, at the Anchor Baptist Church in Lower … Read more
An anti-corruption student media start-up says there’s an ugly underbelly to building a new life in Aotearoa. Leo Shao is an unlikely caped crusader. The softly spoken 20-something looks like any other student striding around Auckland’s CBD in his dark duffle coat, takeaway cup in hand. Yet behind this understated exterior lies an alter ego. Shao … Read more
Australian prime ministers are like a well functioning train system. If you miss one, there’s always another one just around the corner. In today’s cheat sheet, could the lucky country be about to see a another PM booted? Hang on, what is a spill? A spill (pronounced speeeeel) is when a parliamentary caucus all gets … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government moves to address construction worker shortage, data on regressiveness of fuel tax released, and Sir John Key pops up as a lobbyist. It’s been a big 24 hours of news about the logistics of the Kiwibuild programme, in which the government intends to build 100,000 … Read more
Murdoch Stephens from the anarchist publishing firm Lawrence & Gibson,on working with Brannavan Gnanalingam, a finalist in tonight’s Ockham New Zealand national book awards. Some of our authors come to us with a title that encapsulates the concept of their book and which we’re instantly sure of: Milk Island was an example of a title arriving … Read more
On Tuesday, economist Eric Crampton argued that legislation to prohibit foreign property buyers will do nothing to alleviate the housing crisis. Today, he lays out all the other reasons why the ban makes no sense. Yesterday, I wrote about how New Zealand wound up with a ban on foreign homebuyers. I said the policy was … Read more
There is not a shred of evidence the prohibition on foreign property buyers will alleviate the housing crisis. It is populist, fear-based policy making, argues economist Eric Crampton. One of the things that think tank chief economists get to do is have a yarn with travelling delegations from international organisations checking in on how things … Read more
After the minister suspended its profiling pilot, Immigration NZ has released a spreadsheet and a briefing note. Tze Ming Mok is deeply, deeply unimpressed. An RNZ producer contacted me last night to share a PDF of Immigration NZ’s profiling spreadsheet and briefing note that they had released to the media. She had been contacting a … Read more
If you remove statistical models and computational algorithms which reveal discriminatory assumptions or outcomes, you’re not removing discrimination, you’re just making it less transparent, writes Danyl Mclachlan. Imagine you’re the head of Immigration New Zealand. Part of your job is to deport people who are in the country illegally. You have limited resources: you can’t … Read more
Racial profiling by Immigration NZ is a tale as old as time (Dawn Raids anyone?), but if the ‘harm team’ has its way they’ll be workshopping it into our very own dystopian scifi blockbuster, writes Tze Ming Mok. Immigration NZ has apparently caught its own minister off guard by talking openly about plans for a … Read more
A lot of British migrants are making the move to New Zealand – so why shouldn’t there be a TV show documenting the process? Elle Hunt watches BBC reality show Wanted Down Under. A family of four wheels a trolley through an airport’s arrival hall. Far away from home, they look tired but hopeful. Today … Read more
International students caught out by the closure of the New Zealand National College have had their lives here put on hold, and may be unable ever to return. Don Rowe reports. The closure of the failing New Zealand National College in Auckland has left at least two international students stranded in their home countries after their student … Read more
Unlicensed course materials and substandard teaching at a private tertiary institution connected to New Zealand’s education royalty have left students indebted and fuming. Don Rowe investigates. Take a look up any side street in any main city in New Zealand and you’ll find one: the ‘International College of This’, the ‘New Zealand National Academy of … Read more
The arrival of a new government offers the chance to reset the often heated immigration debate. So where should we start? Immigration policy expert David Hall has some ideas. There are few better ways to fuck up a society than to stoke the coals on immigration. It is easy to do, but hard to retract … Read more
An essay about race, immigration, and KFC by Sri Lankan-born, Hutt Valley-raised novelist Brannavan Gnanalingam. On our way to New Zealand in 1986, we stopped at Singapore Airport. In this of all places, my dad bumped into his brother, whom he hadn’t seen for years. We were going to a new life in New Zealand. … Read more
Thirty years ago this weekend, writer and filmmaker Ghazaleh Golbakhsh arrived in New Zealand with her family, immigrants from war torn Iran. Inspired by Duncan Garner’s recent outburst, she reflects on life so far as an immigrant New Zealander. I was not surprised by Duncan Garner’s hideous column about immigrants at K-Mart. He comes from … Read more
Duncan Garner’s recent column on immigration and K-Mart underpants has had the unfortunate – though highly predictable – effect of reigniting New Zealand’s often-poisonous ‘immigration debate’. But there’s a better way, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw. Immigration has never been an easy thing to talk about in New Zealand. When it gets raised in a public forum, … Read more
Yesterday AM Show host Duncan Garner wrote a column for Stuff which started in the queue at K-Mart and ended asking about your grandchildren. Joe Nunweek dissects this strange creation. Duncan Garner is a man who knows what he wants. A 3-pack of workwear cotton rich socks for $12. A seven-day rotation of fitted trunks. A five-pack … Read more
The experiences of migrants and refugees are addressed in an annual summit hosted by AUT’s Immigration and Inclusion Research Group. This year a range of speakers will be tackling the workplace. “We are in a woven universe, so how do we create a weave that doesn’t fray?” This is the question at the core of … Read more
Asian New Zealanders should not have to put up with ineffectual representation decided by Pākehā party bosses, writes Porirua GP and film-maker Sapna Samant. With just over a month to election day, we’re overwhelmed with voices from the left and the right, punditry and predictions. A considerable majority of it is by Pākehā, for Pākehā. … Read more