The Standard 22 June 2014

24 The Standard June 22 to 28 2014
International News
New Zealand’s tranquil
lifestyle lures foreigners
Skilled migrants have
been one of the major
drivers of this growth
Wellington — When
Elzerie Alcaide
moved to Wellington
from Singapore
in January,
she swapped 12-hour workdays,
vast mazes of shopping malls and
a diet of takeaway food for nineto-five
hours, weekend drives in
the countryside and home-cooked
meals.
Alcaide is among the 40 000 migrants,
nearly 1% of the population,
expected to settle in New
Zealand this year, many of them
white-collar workers attracted by
a laid-back lifestyle and promising
job prospects in an economy
which is outperforming most developed
countries.
“Living in Singapore or Manila
can be stressful,” said the 33-
year old, Philippines-born quality
assurance analyst who recently
started working at accounting
software developer Xero.
“But in New Zealand you can
have a good work-life balance, and
the work environment is more
family oriented, which is really
nice,” Alcaide said during a break
at the offices of one of New Zealand’s
fastest-growing companies.
Rising immigration is a key
driver behind record high house
prices. This has prompted the central
bank to raise rates and has
seen the opposition Labour Party
calling for a cut in immigration
as it seeks to score political points
ahead of a general election in September.
Immigration has surged in the
past year, boosted by arrivals from
China, India and other Asian
countries, along with Britain and
the United States. Data due next
week is expected to show the highest
net inflows in more than a decade
in May.
According to official figures, the
last time net migration inflows
were this strong was in 2003-2004,
when annual economic growth
leapt as high as 5,6%. The economy
is expected to grow around
4% this year, its fastest clip since
then.
Last week, data showed growth
in the South Pacific nation accelerated
to its quickest pace in
over six-years, driven largely by a
building boom. An economic slowdown
in Australia in the past year
has both put the brakes on migration
by New Zealanders to their
bigger neighbour, and raised the
comparative appeal of New Zealand
among prospective migrants
around the world
“Traditionally, when candidates
were looking down under they’d
look at Australia as it was the
country with the golden opportunities,”
said Pete Macauley, regional
director, New Zealand, at
Michael Page recruitment agency.
“However, they’re now considering
New Zealand and they’re exploring
the New Zealand market
as a potential next move.”
Job recruiters in the remote,
largely Anglo-Saxon country of
4,5 million say this is a boon for
domestic and multinational companies,
which are expanding faster
than the home-grown skilled
labour force following years of a
“brain drain” to Australia.
The proportion of overseasborn
New Zealanders has been
on the rise in the past 20 years —
nearly one-quarter of all New Zealand
residents were born overseas
in 2013, up from around 16% in
1991.
Skilled migrants have been
one of the major drivers of this
growth, a category actively encouraged
by the government as it
seeks to diversify the pool of labour.
A case in point is the country’s
budding tech industry, which
stands to benefit from skilled migrants.
As technology exports have
doubled since 2005 to NZ$682 million
in 2013, the country’s fastestgrowing
export earning sector is
actively recruiting overseas talent
as they struggle to fill positions
with local skilled workers.
At the same time, immigration
growth has helped push house
prices to record highs, with national
values roughly doubling
in the past decade, prompting the
central bank to start raising interest
rates this year.
The opposition Labour Party’s
calls for a cut in immigration levels
is seen as an attempt to exploit
the issue ahead of the elections it
is widely expected to lose on current
opinion polls.
Recruitment consultant Jonny
Wyles says politicians would do
well not to scare away overseas
talent.
“The anti-immigration rhetoric
we’re hearing in the run up to the
election is a real threat to companies
that truly aspire to compete
on the world stage if it means we
appear less open and less welcoming
to high-skilled migrants,” he
said.
But Alcaide is in for the long
haul, attracted by the prospect of
advancing her career here while
also immersing herself in New
Zealand’s scenic landscapes, popularised
most recently in filmmaker
Peter Jackson’s Hobbit
movies.
“My friends and I have a running
joke,” she said. “In Singapore
our hobby was shopping, but
here, we bake, we cook, we go for
drives and we enjoy nature.”
—Reuters
New Zealand’s lifestyle is ranked amongst the best in the world because of its sophisticated
urban environment, great climate and numerous leisure options.
Texas governor says he ‘stepped right in it’ on gay comments
Texas Governor Ricky Perry
has said he “stepped
right in it” when he compared
homosexuality to alcoholism
as something that can be
fought against despite genetic
disposition.
The Republican, who is weighing
another presidential campaign
in 2016 after a gaff-prone
first attempt in 2012, did not actually
apologise for the remarks,
but instead told a lunch hosted
by the Christian Science Monitor
newspaper on Thursday he
should have stuck to a message
of inclusion and jobs.
“I got asked about an issue,
and instead of saying, ‘You know
what, we need to be a really respectful
and tolerant country, to
everybody, and get back to talking
about — whether you’re gay
or straight — you need to be having
a job and those are the focuses
I want to be involved with,’ instead
... I readily admit, I stepped
right in it,” Perry said, according
to a video recording of the event.
Perry was asked at an appearance
in San Francisco at the
Commonwealth Club of California
on June 11 whether he believes
homosexuality was a disorder,
according to local media
reports.
“I may have the genetic coding
that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic,
but I have the desire not to
do that,” Perry said in remarks
broadcast on the CBS affiliate.
“And I look at the homosexual issue
in the same way.”
A few people in the audience
gasped in response, according
to the CBS report, and the comments
drew broader criticism
across the United States eve
though in his 2008 book, On My
Honour, Perry made a similar
comparison.
It’s not the first time Perry
has employed a variation on the
“stepping in it” phrase, which
often relates to placing boots in
something unpleasant.
In what was perhaps the biggest
gaffe of the 2012 election
campaign, Perry lost his train of
thought during a televised candidate
debate and could not recall
which government departments
he wanted to eliminate if he became
president.
“I’m glad I had my boots on tonight.
I stepped in it out there,”
Perry told reporters afterward.
—Reuters
Texas Governor Ricky Perry