Government treats migrant workers like 'dirt': Judith Collins

Friday, 25 June 2021

National Party leader Judith Collins speaks to the rural sector in Tapanui, West Otago

National Party leader Judith Collins has accused the Government of treating migrant workers like “dirt” and warns Australia will take them instead.

However, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said there had been many measures put in place to bring in primary sector workers.

Collins, who spoke to about 50 rural people in Tapanui, West Otago on Friday morning, honed in on one of the big issues facing the agriculture sector - getting and retaining staff.

She was hearing some migrant staff had decided it was “too hard” to stay in New Zealand due to being unable to get visas to continue, while their families were not being allowed into New Zealand.

They would go to Australia because Australia would help them out, she said.

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“I think that’s what’s going to happen if this Government doesn’t pull its finger and get the immigration department to actually do its job and support our migrant workers.

“We will lose a lot of people who are productive to our economy, and good human beings.”

She believed the Government was anti-immigration.

For a Government that was “all about kindness”, it didn’t care about people who had been brought into New Zealand for specific jobs and had been promised pathways through residency, she claimed.

Collins said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had told her, on his recent visit to New Zealand, that Australia would target the people New Zealand was not taking.

“Why wouldn’t they … they are going after the Filipino workers here at the moment, and why not, good people, working hard … and they will give them residency and citizenship, and our Government is treating our migrant workers like dirt.

“And they are treating you like that too,” she told the farmers, “for not letting them be here and do the job.”

On bringing more people into the country, Collins said there were loads of spots in MIQ facilities to bring more in.

Farmers had been beaten down by media and Government attacks and were made to feel they were in a “bad, dying industry”. But it was the same industry that kept the country going through Covid, she said.

“I grew up thinking being a farmer’s daughter was the best thing … and now I find people apologising for being farmers.”

Faafoi said the Government had taken steps to address skills shortages while border restrictions were in place, with more than 17,000 skilled workers and their families given border exceptions to date.

“There have been many measures put in place to bring in primary sector workers. By the end of March next year, around 4000 seasonal workers will have been able to come here under border restrictions, and special exceptions have been made for dairy farm workers, agricultural mobile plant operators, shearers and veterinarians.”

He acknowledged some industries were experiencing labour challenges but said the Government's Covid-19 response had allowed much of the economy to continue operating, unlike many other countries.

“We will continue to consider class border exception requests from sectors that are facing a critical workforce gap that cannot be filled domestically and where those sectors can demonstrate plans for education, training, wages and other activities that will attract New Zealanders.”

“Skilled migrants are an important part of New Zealand’s immigration focus, and this will continue under our rebalancing of the immigration system. However, as we have signalled, we want to move away from a reliance on lower-skilled migrant workers.”