Migrant Action trust meets Minister Coleman about the plight of new migrants

A delegation from Migrant Action Trust (MAT) which organised a much publicised public forum on 30th May 2009, to find solutions for the plight of migrants met with the Minister of Immigration Hon Jonathan Coleman this morning. The delegation consisted of MAT staff and Richard Barter, Board member and Secretary of the Trust, Asoka Basnayake, Deputy Chair of MAT, Kenneth Leong, Director of Euroasia Ltd, Dennis Maga from Migrant Aotearoa and volunteers Mel Libre and Russell Wood, The purpose of the meeting was to present a position paper that was produced by including the voices of migrants who attended the forum to find solutions for the misery caused to them by the prevailing immigration policies, current economic crisis and the “Kiwi only policy”.

Asoka Basnayake, Deputy Chairperson of Migrant Action Trust says that the meeting with Mr Coleman was positive and that the Hon Minister was very responsive to the issues brought up in the position paper.

She also added that Minister Coleman was very aware of the value and the significant contribution that migrants make to the economic and social development of the country and he was willing to work with organisations such as the Trust to bring about positive change. The Trust was assured that the Minister of Immigration will review the position paper presented to him and will respond to the issues raised.

The Migrant Action Trust’s coordinator Agnes Granada hoped that the solutions offered will be taken into consideration in the Immigration Reform Bill that is expected to be presented to the Parliament in the near future.

The migrant representatives who met the Minister for a lengthy discussion were hopeful that the issues raised would be addressed. The issues raised were the removal of misleading information on government websites, inconsistency in the application of immigration policy by various officials, clarity on immigration policy being available to would be migrants via immigration offices and immigration agents and the Kiwi only policy being a disadvantage to migrants who are permanent residents and citizens of New Zealand.

Some of the suggestions recommended to the minister were about interim emergency measures for migrants in distress, short term solutions that can bring relief to affected persons and solutions to address a long term immigration policy that make New Zealand a preferred destination of would be migrants who can contribute to the growth of the economy of this country.

ENDS

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