Migration's relentless tug of war
p. 56 · Read in the full issue
Opinion
A stroll down Auckland’s Queen Street at just about any time of the day offers evidence of the changing face of New Zealand. You will probably pass more Asians on the street than Pacific Island people, for instance and if you duck into any of the food courts in the side streets you’ll certainly find more people selling sushi than taro and nowadays even more noodles than the one-time standard pakeha fare of meat pies. Official statistics released recently prove this is not an anecdotal observation.
More than 57,000 Chinese from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan made up the largest group of new immigrants to settle in New Zealand during the 19905.
They were joined by another 69,000 Asian newcomers, mainly from Japan, Korea, India and South-east Asia, during a decade which saw a new immigration pattern start to irrevocably change the country’s appearance.
At the same time, the figures from Statistics New Zealand figures show thousands of kiwis; especially those in their 20s; were leaving the country to live in Australia throughout the 1990 s while the unprecedented numbers of Asian immigrants arrived.
The United Kingdom, New Zealand’s traditional source of migrants, dropped to No. 10 in the list of countries that provided a net population gain of permanent and long-term arrivals over departures during the 19905. Although there was substantial two way traffic of people between Britain and New Zealand, the net gain was a modest 6300, well below the 15,200 of South Africa, for instance.
And the relative insignificance of the Pacific as a source of immigrants over the last decade is shown by the fact that only Fiji (8500) shows up in the top 10 of contributing countries, with Western Samoa (3400) the sole other island country joining it in the top 20.
The exodus in search of greener grass across the Tasman resulted in New Zealand suffering a net loss of people to Australia of more than 89,000 during the decade of the 90s. (This is measured in terms of an excess of permanent and long-term departure; people leaving for 12 months or more - over those arriving and intending to stay.) This was offset by a net gain of 126,000 from Asia, plus another 24,000 from Europe, 15,250 from South Africa and 23,750 from all other countries, but the trend is worsening with migration deficits for the last two years following eight consecutive years of growth.
Last year, the country suffered a net loss of just over 9000 permanent and long-term migrants, an increase of nearly 50 per cent on 1998. More than 30,200 New Zealanders left for Australia, while only 6800 came back, giving a net trans-Tasman loss of 23,400.
There was a net migration gain of 10,400 from Asia and 2200 from South Africa, off-setting the losses to Australia, Europe and North America. For the record, the net gains from the islands in 1999 were Fiji (953), Samoa (513) and Tonga (188).
Now what all this means is that New Zealand which, like many developed countries, has a birth rate below the level required for the population to replace itself, is struggling in its efforts to keep New Zealanders at home, attract back those who have left and woo new immigrants; all desirable outcomes for economic development and prosperity.
The Immigration Service said in its brief to the new government elected last November that the current level of applications from prospective migrants was insufficient to meet its target of 38,000 residence approvals a year; a target set to achieve a net migration gain of 10,000 a year over the medium term.
The outflow to Australia throughout the 90s left New Zealand with an overall net population gain from migration of just over 99,000; an average gain of 10,000 a year in line with the policy target, though the immigration service pointed out that net migration could not be controlled because of the freedom of trans- Tasman travel and the unpredictable movement of migrants and long-term visitors.
With volatile swings reflecting economic conditions and changing immigration policies. New Zealand has suffered a net migration loss of 53,800 over the last 30 years. There is no pattern and annual figures have fluctuated between a loss of nearly 42,000 in 1979 and a gain of 28,500 in 1995.
Now, people in the islands should not be under any illusion that as a result of all this New Zealand is about to open its doors to all and sundry. The Samoan quota of up to 1100 a year will continue, as will flows from Fiji and Tonga, but successive governments have made it clear that their attention is focused on what they call “quality” migrants and unfortunately that means people with more money, skills and qualifications than the majority of islanders possess.
But there is evidence that many of those migrants who arrived from Asia and elsewhere over the last decade have gone home again, frustrated that their qualifications were not recognised here or that their skills could not get them the jobs they wanted. There is no shortage of stories of doctors driving taxis or engineers stacking supermarket shelves.
These settlement problems of new migrants are a priority for the new Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel who is setting up an advisory group of outsiders to give her an alternative view to that
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David Barber