Migration announcements coming
The Government is making headway on its plans to curb net migration.
Ahead of the election, Labour campaigned on stemming recordhigh net migration figures.
At the time, annual net migration was about 70,000.
Labour said changes to how it dealt with targeted skills shortages, and education providers would likely drop the number of migrants by about
20,000 to 30,000 a year. While Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said this number was never intended to be a target – more of an expectation of the impact of policy changes – it was seen by many as such.
That drop sounded like a lot but was nowhere near as drastic as the proposal by now-coalition partner NZ First, which wanted a drop in annual net migration from about 70,000 down to just
10,000.
Following the election, the number of people coming into the country dropped off, and in March annual net migration hit a two-year low. Statistics New Zealand’s latest international travel and migration survey showed the net gain from migration in the 12 months to March 31 was 67,984.
The lowest since March 2016, the annual net migration gain was down to about 1000 from the year ended February 28.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said some of that slowdown was due to changes the former National Government made in cracking down on dodgy education providers.
That work had been continued by the new Government.
Labour also spoke extensively about matching migrant skills to shortages in New Zealand.
Lees-Galloway has said the current system was not targeted enough. The minister called it a ‘‘one-size-fits-all system’’.
Ardern said she expected to see some papers ‘‘very soon’’ on what Lees-Galloway and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had planned around targeted skills lists.
It was expected the pending announcements would include regional skills shortage lists, similar to the approach taken in Canterbury following the earthquake.
The aim was to plug the skills gap, and ideally stop everyone settling in Auckland.
Ardern said it was important the skills shortage settings were correct, and were tested to make sure they reflected a ‘‘genuine gap’’ in skills seen by New Zealand employers.