May 21, 2019
Australian election closes door on change
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says the victory of Scott Morrison’s Liberal-National coalition in the Australian elections means no respite for New Zealanders struggling to make their lives across the Tasman.
New Zealanders are discriminated against in education, welfare and employment policies, and hundreds have been deported in recent years after serving prison terms orfailing tough new visa rules.
Mr Jones says it was former Liberal prime minister John Howard who made an issue that New Zealand’s looser immigration and residency rules meant people were using this country as a back door to Australia.
"We have seen, and I have seen it really clearly in some of the discussions in parliament, where Māori are telling us what they need, then it goes through the government sausage maker and comes out as something entirely different. What we have been doing hasn’t been working and if we want to have a change of turning this around, we’ve got to change what we’re doing," he says.
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