Bridges slates UN migration pact
New Zealand doesn’t need the United Nations telling it what to do, the Opposition says.
National Party leader Simon Bridges said if his party was in government, it would pull out of the UN’s Global Compact on Migration because of its potential to restrict New Zealand’s ability to set its own migration and foreign policy. He said he expected Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters would take the same stance, and called on the Government to outline its position on the intergovernmental negotiated agreement.
The Government does not yet have a fixed position and Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway and Peters were currently deliberating on whether to sign up to the compact. Both have been contacted for comment.
A number of countries had pulled out of the agreement because of the potential impact on the decision-making of individual countries, Bridges said.
A government announcement was expected soon but Bridges said it was important to know before December 10, when the agreement would be signed in Marrakesh. Thousands of people had got in contact with the party to express concern, he said. National was supportive of global action on major issues and of migration into New Zealand, and it supported the ability for New Zealanders to travel, live and work overseas should they choose.
‘‘But immigration policy is solely a matter for individual countries and must take account of their individual circumstances . . . there is no automatic right to migrate to another country without that country’s full agreement.’’
This was a view which the agreement sought to counter, he said. He believed the compact could restrict the ability of future governments to set immigration and foreign policy, and to decide on which migrants are welcome and which aren’t.