Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Winston Peters is beating the predictable immigration drum

Winston’s back, banging the trusty old immigration drum. Election next year, so no surprises there.

Nor should there be any surprise that National’s keen to keep skilled workers in the country. It’s what business wants. And, generally speaking, what business wants - with a Government right-of-centre - it gets.

So before we go barking mad on migration, let’s look at the facts.

Is this an Oprah car competition, carte blanche residency lolly scramble? No.

The numbers? Somewhere between 3,500 and 9,000 people. Which barely touches the sides of our 4.3 million working-age population.

Will they flood in from all corners of the earth? No. They’re already here. You have to be working here in order to qualify and proven yourself. You have to be well-paid - at least $36 an hour - and qualified. This is not a low-rent crowd.

Is this a back door into Australia? Well, it can be. But to get through that door, you first have to become a citizen of New Zealand.

Let’s call that a 10 year process, plus the Minister reckons a further four across the ditch before you’re a citizen there. So if you’re willing to spend 14 years gaming the system to become a citizen of Australia, you probably deserve it in my book.

Is this, as Winston's press release claimed, another example of our proud wee country being fleeced by take-all-give-nothing migrants? We train them up and look after them, then they ditch us across the ditch?

No. These people are already trained and experienced and they will pay taxes like the rest of us.

Does he have a point on the wider problem we have with educating and training people who are actually born here? Yes.

But as even he points out, Governments of all stripes have been trying to fix that problem for decades and the fix remains elusive.

But in the meantime, why punish decent Kiwi businesses who’ve managed to find themselves a decent, skilled worker?

Welcome to globalisation. We sell stuff to the world, using, in part, a global workforce to do it.

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