New Zealand<\/strong>\u00a0Immigration:\u00a0<\/strong>New Zealand\u2019s opposition Labour Party has responded to the deteriorating economic situation by stoking reactionary xenophobia and economic nationalism. On March 15, the Hutt News<\/em> reported that during a visit to the working class centre of Lower Hutt, Labour leader Andrew Little blamed semi-skilled migrants from China and India for taking jobs from \u201cthose who are already living here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little, a former national secretary of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, said immigration was having a downwards impact on the country\u2019s wages. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a reasonably high level of inward migration and it\u2019s not all at the skilled level. It wasn\u2019t the intention of the immigration policy to do that,\u201d Little declared.<\/p>\n

Little singled out Asian workers, claiming there is an oversupply of Indian and Chinese chefs. \u201cA lot of folks come here from overseas to get into the hospitality industry with those particular cooking skills and I think the question is: can we actually source those labour needs internally?\u201d he asked. Labour would be justified in examining New Zealand\u2019s immigration settings, Little asserted, \u201cto make sure we\u2019re getting the right mix and balance and that we\u2019re not compromising the interests of those who are already living here trying to get decent pay and conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little is making immigrants the scapegoat for the deepening social crisis for which successive Labour and National governments are responsible. The Labour governments of prime ministers David Lange (1984-1990) and Helen Clark (1999-2008), backed by the trade unions, bear prime responsibility for the extended assault on jobs, pay and living standards. Real hourly wages declined by up to 16 percent over the decade from 1984, and never recovered. Inequality soared. The labour share of income fell from 60 percent of income in the early 1980s to 46 percent in 2002 before recovering slightly\u2014a loss in current dollar terms of about $19 billion per year, or $10,000 per wage earner per year.<\/p>\n

Little\u2019s call for a cap on immigration coincided with a renewed economic downturn. In January, international credit rating agency Fitch downgraded New Zealand\u2019s outlook, saying it expected slower GDP growth due to falling dairy prices. The deepening slump in the industry is causing alarm in wider banking and financial circles, with one economist describing the situation as the worst in real terms since 1912. Thousands of job cuts are also underway, including the closure of Solid Energy coal mines and electronics retailer Dick Smith, and plans for up to 1,000 redundancies at the Inland Revenue Department.<\/p>\n

Winston Peters, leader of the right-wing anti-immigrant NZ First Party, seized on Little\u2019s comments to launch his own xenophobic anti-Asian diatribe. Peters told the New Zealand Herald<\/em> on March 17 that Labour was \u201ccompromised by its past,\u201d having previously \u201csupported high levels of immigration\u201d and ignored \u201cthe needs of ordinary New Zealand men and women in the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters accused Auckland\u2019s ethnic restaurants of being fronts for immigration fraud, charging \u201cphenomenal sums\u201d for job offers to bring people in from overseas. \u201cPeople pay serious money to come in, all under the table, all wrong, all a total degradation of this country\u2019s standards when it comes to workers, and all under our nose,\u201d Peters fulminated.<\/p>\n

Restaurant owners on Auckland\u2019s Dominion Road, who Peters singled out, rejected his charges. Gary Holmes, representing the local Business Association, told the New Zealand Herald<\/em>: \u201cWe know many of the business owners personally and they are all genuine, hard-working people.\u201d Restrictions are already in place. Official immigration figures show visas granted to Chinese chefs are capped at 200 places\u2014under a free trade agreement signed by Labour\u2014and it took three years to fill these spots.<\/p>\n

Responding to media criticism, Little told journalists that reporting of his statements was \u201cbaffling.\u201d \u201cI was asked about Labour\u2019s policy on immigration generally. I said our approach was that as the economy slows there is a case to \u2018turn the [immigration] tap down,\u2019\u201d he said. At the same time, he repeated his false claims that \u201clarge inflows of semi-skilled migrants\u201d were putting pressure on jobs, especially in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Various pro-Labour commentators defended Little. The trade union fundedDaily Blog<\/em> railed against the Herald<\/em> for \u201cbashing\u201d Little over the issue in its March 19 editorial. Unite union leader Mike Treen declared that Labour had been \u201ctrapped into appearing as being opposed to migrant workers.\u201d Chris Trotter told TV 3 that Little\u2019s comments were a simple miscalculation. Labour is increasingly desperate to be seen in a \u201cpositive light,\u201d Trotter said, and \u201cif you push that immigration button, as we have seen in the United States with Donald Trump, you can get a reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their posturing as \u201canti-racist,\u201d none of the pseudo-left groups\u2014the International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Fightback, and Socialist Aotearoa\u2014condemned Little\u2019s comments. In 2011 they all affiliated with the Maori nationalist Mana Party, which represents indigenous capitalists and is particularly hostile to foreigners, and falsely promoted its race-based identity politics as progressive. Claiming Labour can be pressured to the \u201cleft,\u201d the pseudo-lefts advocate the return of a Labour-led government, with Mana as a partner.<\/p>\n

Little\u2019s positioning on immigration was no isolated incident or case of misguided populism. Since 2012, Labour has joined NZ First, the Greens and Mana in jingoistic campaigns against Chinese investment, including in the dairy industry and has blamed Chinese buyers for the expanding housing crisis.<\/p>\n

The opposition of Labour and its allies to the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership has also been based on anti-foreigner sentiment and designed to bolster the position of New Zealand employers against overseas competitors. These campaigns, supported by Labour\u2019s apologists including the unions and pseudo-lefts, dovetail with their support for New Zealand\u2019s alliance with US imperialism and its military build-up against China.<\/p>\n

The Labour Party was steeped in nationalism and xenophobia from its foundation. After World War I, Labour, like its counterpart in Australia, campaigned for severe restrictions on Asian immigration. It supported legislation in 1920 designed to exclude Chinese immigrants, known unofficially as a \u201cWhite New Zealand policy,\u201d which remained in place under successive Labour and conservative governments for more than 50 years. Under conditions of rising economic crisis, social distress and impending imperialist wars, the Labour Party is reviving these foul traditions.<\/p>\n

For more information about\u00a0New Zealand<\/strong>\u00a0Immigration<\/strong>\u00a0programs, please visit the company\u2019s site at\u00a0http:\/\/www.immigrationexperts.pk
\nContact<\/strong>\u00a0:<\/p>\n

Immigration Experts
\nTel: +92 308 5857777
\nE-mail:\u00a0wecare@immigrationexperts.pk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand\u00a0Immigration:\u00a0New Zealand\u2019s opposition Labour Party has responded to the deteriorating economic situation by stoking reactionary xenophobia and economic nationalism. On March 15, the Hutt News reported that during a visit to the working class centre of Lower Hutt, Labour leader Andrew Little blamed semi-skilled migrants from China and India for taking jobs from \u201cthose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-zealand-immigration-news","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\n