Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
27 APRIL 2017

GRANNIE HERALD SHOULD DROP ITS DULL-WITTED DEFENCE

The NZ Herald should drop its dull-witted behaviour in seeking to defend its immigration headlines from yesterday whilst arrogantly posing as experts who understand complex immigration statistics.

“These statistics are not complex but they do require a modicum of plain common sense to interpret. For example, the country of an incomer’s last residence is often not their country of origin,” says New Zealand First Leader and MP for Northland, Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“If the two reporters concerned were competent, well-informed immigration journalists, and not looking for a quick sensational story, they would be aware of the shortcomings of the permanent and long term migration data collected from crude arrival/departure cards upon which they based their April 26 story.

“The Herald says their reporters were relying upon data used by politicians, namely National and Labour. That may be what National, Labour and the Herald does but it is not the information New Zealand First has relied upon, which is why we were able to debunk the Herald’s story with fact, not fiction.

“Then again, when did those two Herald reporters seek New Zealand First’s view on immigration numbers?

“Answer: Never, and on Page B1 of the Herald today on immigration only National and Labour are quoted.

“There is a plain pattern here for even the most obtuse to observe.

“Competent professional immigration reporters with a true grasp of the complexities would be aware the MBIE annual migration data is the most reliable source.

“And it was the Herald article that introduced the race card by claiming the majority growth ‘was not coming from Asia’.

“The figures show that it is and has been for some considerable time.

“On TV3’s AM Show this morning, economist Shamubeel Eaqub claimed I did not want Asians in New Zealand. That I am a racist and that New Zealand immigration was in net loss five years ago. He is wrong on all three counts.

“In fact, in 2012 there was a net gain of foreigners settling in New Zealand of 35,740, with arrivals at 61,721 and departures 25,981.

“The Editor of the Herald was surely looking in the mirror when he said we should not be playing the race card.

“As for the NZ Herald editor and Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy what exactly do they know about immigration?

“If they are unable to understand that pointing out a reporter’s ethnicity is relevant when they are writing unbalanced inaccurate articles, concerning ethnic backgrounds and countries of origin, then what value are their comments.

“They must surely recognise that the whole immigration sector is based on people’s origin, we still count ethnicity in the Census and we put up signs in Chinese for tourists. If none of this is relevant, according to them, then what in their PC world is?

“And whilst we are at it, where were they when at Ratana Pa this year, on 24th January, I was called a ‘house nigger’. From them there was not a mutter, not a murmur, not a syllable, not a sound.

“So let’s stop this baloney that is regularly expressed whenever New Zealand First says immigration has got out of hand and start putting New Zealanders first.

“New Zealanders, from my contact and communication with them, are thoroughly sick of these sanctimonious defences of mass immigration whilst the inevitable demand for housing and infrastructure and every other dysfunction from unfocused immigration policies beset their hopes and expectations now and for the future.

“Today New Zealand First has been attacked by both the Labour and the National Party.

“That’s not unexpected. Both have a record of defending mass immigration,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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