Why are immigrants always a target?
I get it. I really do. It’s easy to blame the thousands of new immigrants for Auckland’s housing crisis and congested motorways. It’s something I’ve been hearing for a while, especially this past week.
But has anybody actually bothered to stop and look at the topography of New Zealand’s largest and ever-expanding city?
Clearly the traffic jams aren’t going away, not now, not ever. Unless of course if the entirety of Auckland is moved inland where the city isn’t surrounded by natural harbours and dormant volcanoes.
And let’s talk about the housing crisis. Have you ever tried to convert $1 million - the average house price in Auckland - into South African Rand?
No? Well it comes close to R10m, which is an astronomical amount in any currency.
For me, and yes, I’m an immigrant, to be able to afford the 20 per cent deposit when buying a house in New Zealand is near impossible having just come over from South Africa.
Journalists don’t get paid that much, and I’m no exception. And I bet there are tens of thousands of new immigrants in the same boat as I am.
This means we end up having to juggle two to three jobs over the span of several years before being able to call ourselves proud Kiwi homeowners.
And it might take even longer for the new wave of immigrants to achieve this dream of owning property if you look at how housing prices have increased of late.
But I’m as happy as the next person to pay excessive amounts to ensure my family and I have a roof over our heads, and can grow up in a safe, stable democracy. Because let’s face it, the grass is greener in New Zealand and Auckland is where the majority of the jobs are and will most likely stay for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse announced stricter immigration measures while Labour leader Andrew Little promised to cut the number of immigrants coming to the country by tens of thousands.
I get it. It’s an election year and every politician this side of the Tasman will be grandstanding to show who is going to be the toughest person in the room. But does the ‘Kiwi first’ approach have to be at the expense of hardworking immigrants?
Instead of taking the populist view of immigrants that seems to be spreading since US President Donald Trump uttered the words ‘make our country great again’, perhaps extend a welcoming hand so that we can fix New Zealand’s problems together.
We were all immigrants once upon a time. So please don’t ever forget that.