New Zealand ‘Not A Bed Of Roses For Immigrants’

New Zealand ‘Not A Bed Of Roses For Immigrants’

Academic and author of a new book Dr Edwina Pio says many New Zealanders think immigrants long to stay in Godzone but this simply isn’t the case.

“It’s not all a bed of roses living in New Zealand. Immigrants face huge challenges around gaining equal access to employment, and are finding that their friends and family are not excelling with the world’s elite achievers.”

Dr Pio adds that while New Zealand is a very generous country, New Zealanders continue to be startled by migrants, particularly those who look, speak and behave differently.

“While New Zealand provides many wonderful opportunities for migrants” she says,“the best of the best cannot achieve their full potential here.”
The AUT University Associate Professor of Management’s book ‘Longing & Belonging’ will be launched tomorrow on Race Relations Day at Te Papa in Wellington.

The book traces the origins of Asians and Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) peoples in New Zealand, lingering on migration stories and aspects of work experience and identity.

The Te Papa launch is being hosted by the Office of Ethnic Affairs which every year hosts an event to celebrate Race Relations Day. A second launch will follow in Auckland hosted by Waitakere City Council and is being held at the Japanese Garden in Henderson.

Speakers at the launch events include Minister of Ethnic Affairs Pansy Wong, Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres and Mayor Bob Harvey.

Sir Paul Reeves in his forward for the book says: “diversity has always been a part of the mix of New Zealand but until recently it could be discounted as it affected only a few of us. Now the unity and connectivity of our nation requires us to prize and embrace diversity.”

Dr Edwina Pio, herself an immigrant, has a deep love and a sense of belonging for Aotearoa. She adds that the book topic was bubbling up for three years. She says while immigrants still grieve for their homelands, they long to belong.

Immigrant employment in New Zealand Dr Pio says immigrants find it incredibly difficult to find employment to match their skills in New Zealand.

“They say that they’ve often found New Zealanders do not seem to accept people who are physically different from them. For some it was easier to start a business rather than gain employment in an organisation.”

She uses the example of Filipino nurses who have difficulty getting work in New Zealand with many having to become care workers.

Sending a prospective employer a curriculum vitae, she adds, can be the first barrier many immigrants face. An African man who contributed to the book, says he felt people were concerned about his name on his CV but found when they met him he could convince them of his worth.

Another African man with a neutral accent felt when he met prospective employers they appeared shocked that he was African, adds Dr Pio.

But Dr Pio says it’s a myth that immigration of MELAA people to New Zealand is anything new.
“The first black African arrived in New Zealand in 1773,” she says, “and an Indian jumped ship in 1810 to marry a Maori woman.

“In the 1860s a Japanese ship’s captain presented the Maori King Tawhiao with a samurai suit of armour, and the first Muslims recorded in the NZ census were Chinese gold miners in 1874.”

Dr Pio hopes her findings will form a think piece for all New Zealanders, from neighbourhoods and communities through to the government and policy-makers.

“It is my hope that New Zealanders enjoy its immigrant population and embraces the vibrant diversity that immigrants bring to our wonderful country.”

ENDS

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