NZ’s sovereignty safe in migration compact

Once again we see political parties knowingly and cavalierly misleading the public about an important issue, this time the contents of the Global Compact on Migration, so that correspondents like Erin O’Connell (Letters, Dec 6) get on their poorly bred high horses. According to her (and National’s Todd McClay, who ought to know better), New Zealand is ‘‘prepared to sign away her sovereignty’’.

What does the compact say? ‘‘National sovereignty: the Global Compact reaffirms the sovereign right of states to determine their national migration policy and their prerogative to govern migration within their jurisdiction, in conformity with international law.’’

So what’s new? And what’s to fear? Winston Peters told McClay explicitly in Question Time that he was wrong, yet outside the House he continued to peddle the same rubbish. Why, to use his words, do ‘‘a lot of NZers have the same concerns as Australia and the US’’? Because they are deliberately misled by politicians.

Graeme Buchanan, Karaka Bays [abridged]