The Indian Weekender, 9 April 2021

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2 NEW ZEALAND Friday, April 9, 2021 The Indian Weekender National Party calls for a parliamentary inquiry on migrant-issues IWK BUREAU National Party’s Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford is calling for a parliamentary inquiry for migrant issues. A parliamentary inquiry would finally give a voice to the desperate migrants who feel unheard and ignored by Jacinda Ardern and her Government, National’s Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford says. National is calling for Parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee to open an inquiry into the migrant issues created by Covid-19 and New Zealand’s closed border, as well as Immigration New Zealand’s policy settings and rules. “Since our border closed a year ago, many of our temporary visa holders have had their lives thrown into turmoil,” Ms Stanford says. “Critical workers – people we invited here to nurse our elderly and teach in our children’s classrooms – are being kept apart from their babies and young children. “Kiwi businesses already hurt by Covid-19 ICONIC VENUES FOR EXTRAORDINARY Weddings AUCKLAND TOWN HALL SHED 10 have lost vital, highly-specialised workers who had no option but to return to their families because their partners and children couldn’t join them. These migrants have had no platform to share their stories or call for change. Their letters and emails have gone largely unanswered. The so-called ‘kind’ Government and its silent Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi have refused to give them any kind of hope or assurance THE CLOUD AOTEA CENTRE | AUCKLAND ART GALLERY | AUCKLAND TOWN HALL AUCKLAND ZOO | BRUCE MASON CENTRE | MT SMART STADIUM NORTH HARBOUR STADIUM | SHED 10 | THE CIVIC | THE CLOUD AUCKLANDCONVENTIONS.CO.NZ THE CIVIC “These migrants have had no platform to share their stories or call for change. Their letters and emails have gone largely unanswered. The so-called ‘kind’ Government and its silent Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi have refused to give them any kind of hope or assurance. “A select committee inquiry would allow MPs to learn how Covid-19 has upended these migrants’ lives. It would enable us to put questions to the Minister and authorities across a wide range of issues, and allow all workable solutions to be explored, including the implementation of trans-Tasman and Pacific travel bubbles. “With every passing day of inaction, Jacinda Ardern and Kris Faafoi risk losing more of our critical migrant workforce and eroding more of New Zealand’s reputation as a welcoming destination for migrants. “I have written to my Labour, Green and ACT colleagues on the committee seeking their support for an inquiry. I hope they will agree that our migrants need a platform for their voices to be heard and for solutions to be found.”
The Indian Weekender Friday, April 9, 2021 NEW ZEALAND 3 Kiwi-Indian community slams NZ govt’s decision on temporary suspension on flights from India SANDEEP SINGH The Kiwi-Indian community is incensed with what they strongly believe is a half-baked decision on temporarily suspending flights from India. This is a historic and unprecedented decision where for the first time ever in New Zealand’s history, citizens and residents will be denied the right of return to the country of their citizenship. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made this announcement in a hurriedly called press conference this afternoon. The suspension will come into place at 4 p.m. April 11 and will remain in place till April 28. The Indian Weekender had been inundated with messages from the concerned members of the community who are seeing decision-based on unconscious bias than actually on science and logistics. Sunil Kaushal, President of Waitakere Indian Association, said, “While we need to ensure and protect the team of 5 million, some of the members returning to their families from one part of the world have been hard done by this suspension. Why don’t we take the same measures for other parts of the world where the strain is pretty nasty?” Notably, despite the government’s stated fixation on the numbers of the recent spike in the number of Covid cases (average of 90,000 every day), it was completely oblivious to the fact that India is currently the leading nation to have vaccinated more than 10 million people. According to the data available on Coronavirus Resource Centre of John Hopkins University, a leading global institution that is collating worldwide data on individual country responses to the raging Covid-pandemic India was up top only behind the United States in the number of people having been vaccinated. India stands at number two with around 12 million people vaccinated against Covid behind the US, which has vaccinated around 60, million people. Members of the community had asked the question that why the government had not shown a proclivity to hand in similar punitive actions on the countries like the United Kingdom and the US when the Covid pandemic was raging in those countries, especially with more deadly strains. Some members of the community who have chosen to remain anonymous have raised questions over the quality of advice that the government had received from the department of public health. “There was no hint given in the press conference by Public Health Director-General Dr Ashley Bloomfield earlier in the day of such an extreme response,” one of the members of the community asked exasperatingly. “It was categorically stated that there was no alarm in the quality of the pre-departure test in flights from India except that there was a recent spike in numbers of cases returning with positive tests in MIQ facility.” “This is more a question of how the government is managing the borders and vaccinating the frontline border workers than choosing on populistic options of selectively targeting countries,” they concluded on the condition of anonymity. National Party comes out in support of Kiwi-Indian Community Meanwhile National Party has also slammed the government’s alleged targeting of one country over the other instead of creating “smart borders we were promised.” National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop has come out in full support of the New Zealand-Indian community and is urging the government to improve their border management rather than taking recourse to travel suspension. National appreciates our New Zealand- Indian community and places a huge value on everything they contribute to our country both economically and socially, Mr Bishop says. • Continued on Page 6 “Learning English gave me confidence to make friends.” Your family member might have pre-paid for English lessons when they applied for their visa to New Zealand. Learning English will help your family member build confidence for their daily life. They will be able to understand what happening in New Zealand and how it affects them. Ask the Tertiary Education Commission to check if your family member has money to use, and how to enrol for English lessons. CALL NOW for no obligation FREE CONSULTATION 0800 66 77 92 Oliver Pereira Financial Adviser Mob: 021 66 77 92 Email: oliver.pereira@opminsurance.co.nz For further information about us, please refer to https://www.opminsurance.co.nz OPM Insurance Services Limited (FSP117285), trading as OPM Insurance Services Limited holds a licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to provide financial advice. Call 0800 601 301 or visit tec.govt.nz/pre-paid-English-lessons
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