May 19, 2020
Migrant workers under pressure as economy resets
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New Zealand First is keen to end the country’s reliance on migrant workers.
MP Shane Jones says as the Government deals with the economic impact of COVID-19, it needs to decide how many of the 300,000 or so workers from other countries should stay here and be absorbed into the population.
The party believes the government’s main obligation is to train New Zealanders.
He says the loss of international tourism means a loss of $20 billion in foreign revenue and thousands of jobs gone, including many held by Māori.
"Those jobs need to be created in other areas and they will be created from our ability to grow, sell and profit from food. The owners of those businesses need to invest in New Zealanders and disproportionately they will be young Māori and there is nothing xenophobic about that statement. It is time for the vast majority of the migrant workers in New Zealand to go home," Mr Jones says.
He says changes to the Immigration Act made last week will give the Minister the decision he needs to make the hard decisions.
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