Immigration Economic Bubble Will Burst Warns Peters
The Budget marked the official slide of New Zealand into Third World status as an Asian colony, Rt Hon Winston Peters
said today.
“Excessive immigration is placing unnecessary and unfair pressures on New Zealand taxpayers, particularly on scarce
health and education services. Today Dr Cullen made clear that the floodgates would be opened even wider.
“The 44 percent increase in Vote Immigration shows that people importing is the Government’s priority – despite the
social disruption.
“New spending to police immigration processes is overdue but it could have been avoided with more sensible immigration
policies.
“Education has regrettably become an export commodity instead of a high quality means to the upward social and economic
mobility of New Zealanders.
“Regrettably there is little in this Budget that increases sustainable growth apart from some attempts to upskill a
workforce that increasingly can’t speak English.
”There is no significant means of encouraging research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship while transport
and energy networks are sadly depleted. Research funding is annually worth less than the donation to Team New Zealand.”
Mr Peters said the Government continues to respond to marginal interests and the politically correct, such as spending
$6 million on Treaty education, while ignoring the bigger picture.
“Our welfare system is in tatters and many people can’t access primary health care while thousands of patients are
dumped off hospital waiting lists.
“While the Government sits on a large surplus for a rainy day, it has overlooked the fact that the economic storm has
arrived,” said Mr Peters.