Richard Prebble Defends 'Illiterate Camel Drivers' Remark
Richard Prebble (and ACT Immigration spokeswoman Muriel Newman) in the house back when he was still ACT Leader
ACT’s Former Leader, Richard Prebble, yesterday questioned why New Zealand continued to accept refugees who were
''illiterate Afghani camel drivers''. Mr Prebble’s comments came during the time allocated for Questions to Ministers in
the House and followed questions by National and ACT politicians regarding refugees and employment.
Hon Richard Prebble: I wonder whether the Minister would now answer the question that Muriel Newman put to him, which was this: there are 20
million refugees in the world, according to the official UN refugee agency, many of whom are highly skilled, able to
speak English, and would fit into New Zealand society, but this Government insists on taking illiterate Afghani camel
drivers and bringing them into this country; what is the point of that?
In 2002 a Muslim community group laid a complaint with the race relations after similar comments from Mr Prebble had
incensed the Somali community.
In Early 2002, Mr Prebble, reportedly stated that “instead of taking refugees from “desert cultures” such as Somalians,
New Zealand should take “refugees who would have no difficulty integrating into New Zealand society – for example, white
farmers being driven off their land in Zimbabwe.”
Mr Prebble’s comments regarding “illiterate Afghani camel drivers” came barely a day after a rally promoting race
relations in New Zealand. Given this fact and Mr Prebble’s 2002 comments regarding the Somali Community, Scoop sought
clarification from Mr Prebble about just why he referred to Afghani refugees in New Zealand as “illiterate camel
drivers”.
Initially Mr Prebble seemed bemused that labelling the Afghani refugee community in New Zealand as ‘illiterate camel
drivers" could be seen as offensive.
“What is racist about referring to the fact that some guy is an Afghani” queried Mr Prebble before clarifying just what
he had meant by his comments in the House.
“I could have actually used another example - which is that the previous government [National] was letting in
illiterate Cambodian fishermen who as the record shows never have a job.”
Mr Prebble was convinced that both Labour and National governments had deliberately adopted a policy of taking in
refugees who would never be in gainful employment.
“The New Zealand Government deliberately takes refugees who are unemployable. It is a deliberate Government policy and
the Government says that ‘we are proud of it’. The result is that, I think, there are people coming to New Zealand who
the record shows will never be self sufficient. The National Government did it as well.”
The supposed reason for this desire to increase New Zealand social welfare spending came about in order to win brownie
points from the United Nations. Mr Prebble became aware of this during a trip to South East Asia.
“I was proudly told by a New Zealand diplomat that we were taking some refugees [Vietnamese refugees] who were
illiterate and were rice farmers. The diplomat was saying that Canada and the USA were taking skilled people and aren’t
we [NZ] good taking people that no-one else will take.”
New Zealand’s commitment to taking a certain quota of refugees every year was also tied into foreign policy according
to Mr Prebble.
“It first started with National and the Somali refugees – and it was explained to us in order to get onto the security
council.” he said.
Mr Prebble took some exception to the suggestion his statement may have been somewhat intemperate given recent
disturbing trends in race relations.
“I didn’t make an adverse reference to any race. The fact that there are people like you who might [think the statement
was prejudicial to racial harmony]…isn’t a reason for me to modify my behaviour. I was making a reference to the fact
that a person came from Afghanistan and was illiterate and had skills that couldn’t be used in this country. That isn’t
a racist remark. I wasn’t stirring up racism against Afghani’s. In fact I was implying that we should apply the same
standard to Afghanistan as we do to anywhere else. "
Mr Prebble also considered that taking people from the teeming refugee camps of the Middle East (or Nauru) and dropping
them into a free-market economy like New Zealand was a somewhat cruel thing to do.
“I have these refugees come into my [ACT] electorate office and explain to me through interpreters the huge social
problems that they suffer. I say the New Zealand Government is largely responsible. Taking people into a capitalist
society like New Zealand who we know will never be self sufficient doesn’t strike me as being a sensible social policy.”
Scouring the world for refugees with perfect English that could plug skill shortages seemed a far more sensible idea
for both the downtrodden of the globe and the New Zealand economy
“I fail to see why the Government is prepared to leave skilled tradesmen in refugee camps in favour of the illiterate
camel driver.” Mr Prebble stated.
However whether these English speaking refugees could be sourced from the farmlands of Southern Africa was not a point
Mr Prebble felt like discussing in 2004.
In January 2002 Mr Prebble had suggested replacing refugees from “desert cultures” with “refugees who would have no
difficulty integrating into New Zealand” and then cited white farmers in Zimbabwe being driven off their land as a good
example. A month later in February 2002 Mr Prebble had this to say.
“White farmers being driven off their land in Zimbabwe are real refugees and they’d make good citizens but they’d never
be selected by this politically correct government.”
Currently, more than 2000 Zimbabweans are on work permits in New Zealand, many of whom happen to fit the description of
white farmers. The New Zealand Government, which has already made an exception to New Zealand's immigration policy in
regard to the Zimbabweans by giving them a blanket extension of their work permits, is currently considering what
actions to take regarding their immigration status given the continuing instability in Zimbabwe.
Scoop: Do you think there’s a bit of a double standard given the Government hasn’t (yet) taken the Zimbabwean farmers?
Richard Prebble: "Well that’s a different argument".
**** ENDS ****