Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
26 APRIL 2017
National Favouring Migrants Ahead of Young Kiwis
The National government is giving up and turning their backs on thousands of young Kiwis who are desperate to get a job
and future in their own country in favour of migrants, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament
Rt Hon Winston Peters.
“We have 139,000 Kiwis who don’t have a job; we have 91,000 young Kiwis who are not in education, training or employment
and yet next to nothing is being done to sort out these problems.
“Instead of helping young Kiwis, the government allows thousands of migrants to pour into the country at a rate that
will one day put New Zealand in the Guinness Book of Records.
“In the March 2017 year there has been yet another record annual net gain of 71,900 migrants.
“Month after month, year after year we have seen record numbers of migrants entering New Zealand.
“In the year to June 2016 New Zealand’s population grew by 97.300 to 2.1 percent which was the largest annual increase
on record.
“Instead of sorting out work problems for thousands of Kiwis the government is using migrants to drive down working
conditions and artificially inflate GDP growth figures.
“They are allowing a corrupt international education industry to thrive even though it is used by many overseas students
as a ticket to residence – it has nothing to do with education.
“The government perpetuates the myth the country needs skilled labour but most of the new arrivals work in low-skilled,
low-paid occupations,” says Mr Peters.
ENDS