40 migrants pay for jobs via rushed AEWV scheme, then crammed into 3-bed house with no work & one shower; Temporary immigration up 50% to record 195k; Emigration up 36% to 108k; Land prices up again
Macro settings continue to inflate asset prices with minor policy offerings like helping new parents and rearrange the deckchairs of tax policy ‐ "be happy with the crumbs" while asset inflation is entrenched and untouchable.
strewth Bernard, anger is raging within me. there is something extremely seriously wrong with Andrew Little (which I have known for a long time) but I didn't know it was this bad. 195,200 migrant arrivals in the year to June 30, 2023 (words to express my horror fail me/words are insufficient).
you state: "Our Government, and by extension most voters, are prepared to tolerate and encourage fraud and migrant abuse on a massive scale......" I believe that most voters would not Bernard.
Thanks Robert. Sadly, it's not hidden and there are many, many reports. Neither major party have done anything much to stop it. Only the Greens really loud on it. Even Winston has stopped worrying about migration. People love the cheap Ubers, the Uber Eats, the always-open liquor stores and the well-staffed service stations. And so do many small business owners and farmers.
Why are the Greens the only party prepared to ‘be loud’ on this and what does it say about the moral compass of voters and other parties, or do they no longer have one? I find it distressing that our nation has sunk to this new low and the majority are prepared to look the other way. Also, what are the responsibilities of the employers, humanitarian, moral and legal and who monitors them?
The “Dubai of the South Pacific”. Problem is what are the” Bald headed Boardroom bandit” and the “little man in short pants” going to offer us instead. More of the same I suspect as long as the rich landowners profit and pay no taxes and everyone else becomes “bottom feeders” in the neoliberal vernacular. They still believe in “trickle down “which has been totally discredited. Look at NZ today? Please release Bernard. A masterpiece.
40 migrant workers in one house. The MSM news item didn't mention if all these workers were employed by one company. I would presume they are because 'in one house'. So this employer needed 40 workers but has no work for them.
Take the employer to the Employment Court and force the employer to pay the median wage for each and every worker they claimed they needed.
The point I think Steve is that this is a complete fraud. There is no employer to take to court. I suspect allowing 3rd party companies to do the hiring is at fault here. It hasn't worked brilliantly with education and immigration consultancies either.
I'm literally raging. 20 years ago I left a country I knew is doomed and I wasn't wrong. They are now fighting the fight of their life as they see dictatorship being created in front of their eyes. And all because they were complacent. We can't afford to be complacent. We need to be out on the streets, week after week, protesting this ridiculous economic system being shoved down our throat, and demand our politicians to end it. Anyone who doesn't want to end it should go home never to be seen near parliament.
So, all the stuff about AEWV & just how endemic the abuse is: what you're talking about is outright immigration fraud - making up a shell company, bringing in people under false pretenses with a fake job, firing after 3 months. It would seem to me, that's prosecutable stuff, with a lengthy paper trail, and it should be easily proved and dealt to.
Is the point that it's not being prosecuted and should be? If so that should be the headline. Immigration itself is not the problem, or even an accredited system of sponsorship, which is widely used around the world.
A quick suggestion would be to eliminate the 3rd party sponsorship category altogether. Placement intermediaries always sounds like a bad idea. Only real people working directly for real companies, who have established histories, boards, and executives who can be held responsible for the visas they are permitted.
you state: "immigration itself is not the problem"
but a problem with immigration is that there was already a deficiency of about 125,000 dwellings in New Zealand, and now the so-called Labour government has allowed another 195,200 immigrants into NZ in the last year.
I worked as a nurse in Abu Dhabi some years ago and would feel desperately sorry for the imported labourers.
Working in high temperatures ,living in miserable conditions and bused into work from their camps . They had sad empty wide eyed faces .Seemingly trapped .
So sad .
God forbid this country has this happening in our back yard !
I saw them too. Being trucked to work in searing temperatures all standing crowded on the back of an open cattle truck. And this was several years before we got 50 degree temperatures. It made me feel sick in the stomach which is why I have never returned to such places as a tourist.
My standard response is that you should always open it to everyone, maybe after a 6 or 12 hour delay. I don't mind paying so others can read your excellent analysis.
Why on earth would we run a system that is so oily that no one can get a grip and stop it? Do we have no systematic thinkers any more. Too many barbeques? too much "she'll be right"? Not enough 'spoil sport' serious thinking?
I am incredibly depressed by this. I have been an immigrant and it's difficult enough as it is without the added pain of hunger and horrible living conditions. And a feeling of hopelessness. Those agents and whoever is responsible for bringing in these poor people should pay a huge fine and the employers in the programme investigated. And that Fruit and Veggie thing. It's a bit of an insult to those who can't even afford a loaf of bread as their rents are so high. Working in rescue food we see an intense need for food, any food every day. I don't know who is advising The Labour lot but their advice is very poor indeed. The election is 60 days away and the Greens are the only party looking to bring some transformational change and I am hopeful sensible voters will see that. What happened to a country that was first to give women the vote, and first to create good social welfare conditions?
I wonder if it's rushed policy+no resources to police the system leading to even more perverse outcomes. Making a problem worse, not better. This government tried to hold out after COVID to really reset the immigration system for the better, but caved. Resetting the immigration system isn't something you can do quickly and I doubt there's bi-partisan support to sustain a long term shift. In the meantime people are being exploited and trapped in plain sight.
It seems to escape the general understanding that most of our government institutions are Potemkin Villages =all façade and no substance. Wonder why our rivers aren't clean - its not farmers - t s the regulator and central government that set the standards - most farmers simply abide by what is permitted. Recent discussions on the Office of the Auditor General - utterly ineffective waste of money - the clowns overseeing immigration - designed not to be effective and do it goes on. What this government is doing is doing to get re-elected is little short of criminal. But the alternatives are no better - personal conversation with National's Michael Woodhouse some time back he blurted in the middle of the conversation that he thought NZ should have a population of 25million - he hasn't asked us and I suspect if he told that to the electorate he hopes to represent (slim chance) after the next election his chances of representing it would be even slimmer.
Macro settings continue to inflate asset prices with minor policy offerings like helping new parents and rearrange the deckchairs of tax policy ‐ "be happy with the crumbs" while asset inflation is entrenched and untouchable.
Happy to have this opened up to the public
strewth Bernard, anger is raging within me. there is something extremely seriously wrong with Andrew Little (which I have known for a long time) but I didn't know it was this bad. 195,200 migrant arrivals in the year to June 30, 2023 (words to express my horror fail me/words are insufficient).
you state: "Our Government, and by extension most voters, are prepared to tolerate and encourage fraud and migrant abuse on a massive scale......" I believe that most voters would not Bernard.
Thanks Robert. Sadly, it's not hidden and there are many, many reports. Neither major party have done anything much to stop it. Only the Greens really loud on it. Even Winston has stopped worrying about migration. People love the cheap Ubers, the Uber Eats, the always-open liquor stores and the well-staffed service stations. And so do many small business owners and farmers.
Why are the Greens the only party prepared to ‘be loud’ on this and what does it say about the moral compass of voters and other parties, or do they no longer have one? I find it distressing that our nation has sunk to this new low and the majority are prepared to look the other way. Also, what are the responsibilities of the employers, humanitarian, moral and legal and who monitors them?
The “Dubai of the South Pacific”. Problem is what are the” Bald headed Boardroom bandit” and the “little man in short pants” going to offer us instead. More of the same I suspect as long as the rich landowners profit and pay no taxes and everyone else becomes “bottom feeders” in the neoliberal vernacular. They still believe in “trickle down “which has been totally discredited. Look at NZ today? Please release Bernard. A masterpiece.
Patrick Medlicott
40 migrant workers in one house. The MSM news item didn't mention if all these workers were employed by one company. I would presume they are because 'in one house'. So this employer needed 40 workers but has no work for them.
Take the employer to the Employment Court and force the employer to pay the median wage for each and every worker they claimed they needed.
The point I think Steve is that this is a complete fraud. There is no employer to take to court. I suspect allowing 3rd party companies to do the hiring is at fault here. It hasn't worked brilliantly with education and immigration consultancies either.
Sparingly good, Bernard! Happy to open this article up to the public.
Oops! This was meant to say SEARINGLY good. Apologies 😂
I'm literally raging. 20 years ago I left a country I knew is doomed and I wasn't wrong. They are now fighting the fight of their life as they see dictatorship being created in front of their eyes. And all because they were complacent. We can't afford to be complacent. We need to be out on the streets, week after week, protesting this ridiculous economic system being shoved down our throat, and demand our politicians to end it. Anyone who doesn't want to end it should go home never to be seen near parliament.
A new but old political party 'The NACTionaLabor Putting the Interests of the Rentier Class of New Zealand First and F**K the rest of us Party'
Yes, that appears to be our government.
So, all the stuff about AEWV & just how endemic the abuse is: what you're talking about is outright immigration fraud - making up a shell company, bringing in people under false pretenses with a fake job, firing after 3 months. It would seem to me, that's prosecutable stuff, with a lengthy paper trail, and it should be easily proved and dealt to.
Is the point that it's not being prosecuted and should be? If so that should be the headline. Immigration itself is not the problem, or even an accredited system of sponsorship, which is widely used around the world.
A quick suggestion would be to eliminate the 3rd party sponsorship category altogether. Placement intermediaries always sounds like a bad idea. Only real people working directly for real companies, who have established histories, boards, and executives who can be held responsible for the visas they are permitted.
AEWW?
AEWV accredited employer work visa
you state: "immigration itself is not the problem"
but a problem with immigration is that there was already a deficiency of about 125,000 dwellings in New Zealand, and now the so-called Labour government has allowed another 195,200 immigrants into NZ in the last year.
The number is indeed a shocker
I worked as a nurse in Abu Dhabi some years ago and would feel desperately sorry for the imported labourers.
Working in high temperatures ,living in miserable conditions and bused into work from their camps . They had sad empty wide eyed faces .Seemingly trapped .
So sad .
God forbid this country has this happening in our back yard !
Very worrying !!
I saw them too. Being trucked to work in searing temperatures all standing crowded on the back of an open cattle truck. And this was several years before we got 50 degree temperatures. It made me feel sick in the stomach which is why I have never returned to such places as a tourist.
This article should be opened up to the public. We do not want to be known as a haven for migrant exploitation.
Many thanks. I'm opening this up for public consumption and sharing now.
My standard response is that you should always open it to everyone, maybe after a 6 or 12 hour delay. I don't mind paying so others can read your excellent analysis.
Why on earth would we run a system that is so oily that no one can get a grip and stop it? Do we have no systematic thinkers any more. Too many barbeques? too much "she'll be right"? Not enough 'spoil sport' serious thinking?
Except the Greens
If we are to be solution focused I think we need a heroic cause..Then we might wake up! Making money is so meaningless - the opposite of heroic.
I am incredibly depressed by this. I have been an immigrant and it's difficult enough as it is without the added pain of hunger and horrible living conditions. And a feeling of hopelessness. Those agents and whoever is responsible for bringing in these poor people should pay a huge fine and the employers in the programme investigated. And that Fruit and Veggie thing. It's a bit of an insult to those who can't even afford a loaf of bread as their rents are so high. Working in rescue food we see an intense need for food, any food every day. I don't know who is advising The Labour lot but their advice is very poor indeed. The election is 60 days away and the Greens are the only party looking to bring some transformational change and I am hopeful sensible voters will see that. What happened to a country that was first to give women the vote, and first to create good social welfare conditions?
I wonder if it's rushed policy+no resources to police the system leading to even more perverse outcomes. Making a problem worse, not better. This government tried to hold out after COVID to really reset the immigration system for the better, but caved. Resetting the immigration system isn't something you can do quickly and I doubt there's bi-partisan support to sustain a long term shift. In the meantime people are being exploited and trapped in plain sight.
It seems to escape the general understanding that most of our government institutions are Potemkin Villages =all façade and no substance. Wonder why our rivers aren't clean - its not farmers - t s the regulator and central government that set the standards - most farmers simply abide by what is permitted. Recent discussions on the Office of the Auditor General - utterly ineffective waste of money - the clowns overseeing immigration - designed not to be effective and do it goes on. What this government is doing is doing to get re-elected is little short of criminal. But the alternatives are no better - personal conversation with National's Michael Woodhouse some time back he blurted in the middle of the conversation that he thought NZ should have a population of 25million - he hasn't asked us and I suspect if he told that to the electorate he hopes to represent (slim chance) after the next election his chances of representing it would be even slimmer.