Specific On The Pacific

Newcastle Herald

Friday November 30, 2007

Jeff Corbett

THE prospect of Australia admitting people of the Pacific Islands as guest workers fills me with dread. And I have long been concerned about the free entry to Australia of people with New Zealand citizenship.

Why? I fear more of the social problems that seem to be associated with some Pacific Islanders.

And I believe that admitting significant numbers of unskilled and ethnically linked people to Australia creates social difficulties that our protective systems are ill-equipped to resolve.

New Zealand's historically generous immigration rules have created for it social and economic problems, and there is no good reason why we should allow its immigration rules to create problems for us. Yet we continue to admit people with New Zealand citizenship no questions asked and without any of the deliberations we give to admitting people of other countries.

When, for example, New Zealand offered an amnesty to 4000 overstayers, most of them Pacific Islanders, five years ago it was effectively offering them permanent residency of both New Zealand and Australia. The overstayers were New Zealand's problem and it very neatly shared that problem with Australia.

These people and others who have gained New Zealand citizenship in a process much less rigorous than our own are eligible to live and work permanently in Australia. They're eligible, too, to live and not work in Australia, and while the dole is not as freely available to New Zealanders as it used to be it is still freely available after two years.

Former prime minister John Howard, by the way, has cited the risk of widespread overstaying of visas in opposing calls to admit Pacific Islander guest workers.

According to the Department of Immigration, in the year 2000 more than 40 per cent of people with a New Zealand passport arriving to settle permanently in Australia were not born in New Zealand! In 2004-05 that was 23 per cent.

The usual sticking point in granting residency to people of another country is their value to Australia. What skills do they bring? Are they skills we need? Are they financially independent?

People arriving under the New Zealand flag are asked none of these questions. They may have no skills, and many don't, and no money, and many don't, and thus they offer Australia nothing. In some cases their lack of skills and prospects create such social problems that the person, family and even extended group will be a negative in every sense other than population total.

The Australian victims of violence that flows from these social difficulties will be in no doubt about the wisdom of our unquestioning welcome.

"It is not necessary for a New Zealand citizen who holds a SCV [Special Category Visa] to apply for or be granted permanent residency in Australia," Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship says on its website. "The SCV allows a New Zealand citizen to remain and work in Australia lawfully as long as that person remains a New Zealand citizen."

Not a bad deal! The risk of losing New Zealand citizenship is zero!

Mention of the Special Category Visa may lead some to assume in error that New Zealanders need a visa to come to Australia. The SCV was created especially for New Zealanders to get around 1994 legislation requiring all non-citizens in Australia to have a visa. Kiwis do not need to apply for an SCV it is granted automatically.

Some who object to my questioning the value to Australia of New Zealanders' free entry will cite the fact that New Zealanders have a higher "labour-force participation rate" than Australia-born Australians, in 2005 76.3 per cent against our 68.2 per cent, and by that they are saying New Zealanders in Australia are more likely to have a job than Australians.

It's not true. Labour-force participation refers to those of an age and in a position to gain employment, not those in work.

Our special relationship with New Zealand should not require us to subjugate our own interests and, too often, personal security. New Zealanders seeking to visit Australia as more than tourists should be required to establish their value.

jcorbett@theherald.com.au

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home