Transcript
YVONNE UNDERHILL-SEM: It is a really interesting question to compare the quotas with labour mobility. And I think my response to that is that there is a very good reason they will stay the same, because they are a pathway to permanent citizenship and permanent residence in NZ. Labour mobility is not. Labour mobility, and the numbers are growing, are pathways to seasonal movement. It is not a pathway into staying in NZ. What does that tell us then about what the NZ government understands their responsibility to the Pacific in terms of work? It tells us that they want our labour but they don't want us as fully formed citizens. And I think that is reality of the current policy discussion we are in right now. There will be lots of other reasons we could say why you might say that the quota system or lots of other reasons for why you might say that the numbers need to stay the same in terms of how you try to make sure people are in the right place and that we give the right sort of support and I support that and sure we do need to make sure that the quota are not just there for the sake of it but that there is scaffolding behind it so that those quotas turn into successful settlement over the long term and the only way we will know that is from the children of those who move. Research done into immigrants who move into new countries, they will often enjoy a higher income over the initial time period, maybe about a 2-5 year period, but there's really the same sort of social mobility unless you have got successful scaffolding programmes to say we are not just taking you as a unit of labour, but we are taking you as a potential citizen, and as a potential citizen we want you to flourish as all our citizens do. That is not the same message for labour mobility and so we have got to keep our eye on that discussion. So I would say yes that the quota system needs to increase but only with the scaffolding around it and it would demonstrate a commitment by the government that it actually values Pacific islanders for more than just the work they may or may not do.
SARA VUI-TALITU: One of my observations is that the cost of living here is so high, and being able to survive and pay your bills is so different to the islands, do you feel there is enough support here for people who say come here on the quota and never been here before?
YU: I really don't think it’s enough and the people who carry that quota people are the ones who live here. They are the ones who offer accommodation and give leads into jobs and they are the ones who really do support early on in the quota but I think a lot more needs to be done. I am possibly not aware of all the things that are being done but from where I sit in terms of the different models of having Pacific people coming into our region, the quota model is a good one but it doesn't have the scaffolding around it to make sure that you get successful citizens coming out of it and not another bunch of Pacific people who are in the low skilled and low cost labour sector. And maybe do we have to wait a generation before we see the children of those people, possibly like myself, coming into the labour market at higher levels? And is that acceptable? That we have to wait a generation for that happen? That actually the quota system is not about the adults coming in but it is about the opportunities provided for those children and maybe that is a discussion that we have to have but those children still need to go through institutional blocks for Pacific and Maori young people in our country.
SV: One of the barriers is finding a job, how realistic is that [to be able to improve]?
YU: I think one of the barriers is finding a job in the right place and one idea with these quotas is that they also distribute people throughout the country and so ideally a lot of people would go to the regions that are flourishing economies but they don't have that support for people who are already here and so globally over time they will go to a region where there is a job but over time they will move back to where there are consolidated ethnic communities. And there are some regions who have embraced people who have come here on the quota but a lot more needs to be done. I think here we can also talk to local bodies and say what is their responsibility and role and how do they see that. So we have some really flourishing regions as well so if there was a better way to retain
Pacific folk in regions, then we should really look hard at that and I know that MBIE has done some research on that but let's work with the councils, let’s ask them what they can do?
