> download Submission on Immigration Amendment Bill PDF, 76KB)
Whilst supporting the Minister for Immigration’s comments regarding Aotearoa New Zealand’s sovereign right to determine who is able to gain permanent residency (whilst needing to take into account international obligations), the continuing need for border integrity, and sharing his concerns regarding the plight of asylum seekers who have met untimely deaths onboard unseaworthy boats in several incidents in the Pacific as they have desperately sought safety, we suggest this Bill will not achieve its intended outcomes. Moreover, in enacting these proposed changes Aotearoa New Zealand may well be in breach of its international obligations.
What’s more, emotive comments such as ‘mass arrival’ and the ‘ulterior motives’ for gaining entry into Aotearoa New Zealand other than for ‘genuine reasons’ could potentially incite fear and apprehension into the general public, and result in discrimination of refugees already resident within Aotearoa New Zealand and divisive views and understandings, as has happened in Australia.