Filipino Migrant News September 2017

SEPTEMBER 2017. ISSUE 106 | www.filipinonews.nz | email: filipinonews@xtra.co.nz | tel: 027 495 8477 | www.pinoynzlife.nz 05
The xenophobic drum
is beating louder from pg 4
It’s shameful that although
only 5% of the total workforce
are migrant workers –
about a third of prosecutions
involving employment condition
violations involve a
migrant worker.
And MBIE doesn’t have
enough resources to deal
with the problem. We know
from their 2016 annual
report that they’re falling
well short of doing the interventions
they need to be
doing (up to 1049 short) and
that one in five investigations
are taking longer than
six months.
That’s unacceptable. We
will invest more resources
into the Labour Inspectorate,
so that we can have
more proactive investigations
and less migrant worker
exploitation.
And look at how we treat
non-Pakeha New Zealanders
in this country. According to
a report by the human rights
commissioner – one-in-ten
Pasifika and one-in-five
Asians have faced discrimination
in the last 12 months.
Having a non-Pakeha
name means that you’re 50%
less likely to get a call-back
for a job interview. Being a
migrant means that you’re
more likely to be over-qualified
and over-experienced
for the job you do.
And we need to address
these issues. The Greens
want to trial ethnicity-blind
and gender-blind CVs to
address discrimination.
Look also at how we treat
our multicultural associations
and migrant centres.
Last month the Canterbury
Migrant Centre was forced
to close due to lack of funding.
The value that your groups
bring to New Zealand – not
only in easing the settlement
process for new migrants,
but for the diversity and
social connections you bring
to your areas - has been
underappreciated for far too
long.
The Greens at the heart of
government will initiate a
funding review so that the
valuable work you do is
rewarded and recognised
through a consistent baseline
of funding – so you can get
on with the job rather than
James Shaw with other speakers at the Immigration
Symposium in Dunedin.
Photo courtesy of Multicultural New Zealand.
having to constantly chase
the next dollar.
Look at how we rip off
foreign students with the
promise of a so-called highquality
New Zealand education
and a pathway to residency.
But then thousands, if not
tens of thousands, of these
students end up in terribly
dodgy private training establishments,
doing courses that
get them a certificate barely
worth the paper it’s printed
on and that have no value
when they're trying to find a
job.
And in the meantime they
end up being exploited,
working for below minimum
wage and unable to get
decent accommodation at a
price they can afford. I
mean, what way is that to
treat anybody, let alone a
guest in our house? That’s
just a rip-off.
I’m proud to lead a party
that stands for the politics of
love and inclusion, not hate
and fear.
I’m also proud to be standing
with the most diverse list
of candidates we’ve ever put
forward for an election.
They include:
Two Pasifika candidates –
Leilani Tamu, a former
diplomat and Fulbright
Scholar and Teanau Tuiono,
a climate change advocate
for the Pacific Islands.
Two Chinese New
Zealanders – David Lee, a
City Councillor and Julie
Zhu, a freelancer in the
theatre and film industries.
Raj Singh, an Indian
lawyer and successful business
owner.
Rebekah Jaung, a Korean
doctor, currently also doing
her PhD.
Ricardo Menéndez
March, from Mexico, a
migrant rights campaigner.
And of course many of
you will have already read
about Golriz Ghahraman,
who came to New Zealand
as a nine-year old refugee
from Iran and who is now an
Oxford-educated human
rights lawyer who puts
war criminals on trial at the
International Court of
Justice in the Hague.
These, our candidates for
Parliament in this year’s
election, represent our commitment
to the journey of
being more representative of
modern New Zealand and of
being able to advocate for all
New Zealanders.
And we are the furthest
along this road that we have
ever been – thanks to the
efforts of my colleague
Denise Roche, who has been
reaching out to ethnic and
migrant communities, with
sixty-five meetings all over
New Zealand, over the last
three years.
But we do still have a long
way to go.
We will continue to make
sure that our party not only
looks like modern New
Zealand – but also reflects
the needs of all New
Zealanders.
We haven’t always gotten
it right – and we won’t
always in the future, either.
But I promise that we will
listen to you and learn from
our mistakes.
Openness, inclusiveness
and tolerance must win out
over racism and scapegoating
and xenophobia.
Love and inclusion must
win out over hate and fear.
We are only great when
we are great together.
Editor: James Shaw presented
this paper at the
Immigration Symposium
organised by the New
Zealand Federation of
Multicultural Councils in
Dunedin in July 2017.