Former immigration minister Michael Wood says the Labour Party will soon announce its policy approach towards granting amnesty to overstayers and widening the scope of parent visa for migrants.
“We will be very clearly signaling the things we will be doing, and the things that we won't be doing,” the party’s candidate for General Elections 2023 from Mt Roskill told The Indian Weekender.
During his earlier stint as the immigration minister in the current government, Wood often indicated a decision on overstayers and parent visas was coming soon, but nothing has been announced as yet.
On being prodded for clarity on the two issues during his visit to The Indian Weekender office this week, Wood pointed out migrants can expect a final announcement in the run-up to the elections this October.
“We are now at the point in the political cycle where basically parties will bring forward the manifestos for the election to say what are we going to do if we are reelected.
“The Labour [Party] will be releasing our election manifesto, including all of our immigration policy, within the next few weeks. I can't say in advance what will be in that…but that will really show people about where we stand on those issues,” Wood said.
The former minister also signalled demand by migrants to make it easier for their parents to visit was also being considered.
“We've received suggestions from the community around the things, for example, like a long term visitor visa, which some other countries have…you can expect that when we release that manifesto, there will be clarity about how we intend to deal with that issue.”
Wood also spoke about the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), which was rolled out last year when he was the immigration minister, and has now come under scrutiny following cases of visa frauds.
Wood rejected criticism that the scheme, which makes it easier for employers to hire overseas workers to fill critical vacancies, is prone to abuse and job frauds.
“So the system does have oversight, it's a three-step process. First, the employer must become accredited. So the rule is in place that you do check the employees first. “The question, effectively, here is whether Immigration New Zealand has been applying that at an operational level as strongly as they should have been.”
Over the last few weeks, at least 140 migrant workers caught up in a job scam have been living in squalor after their employers refused to place them in the jobs they were promised.
Wood backed the current immigration minister in the way the government is dealing with such cases that have come to light.
“I think Mr Little has done the right thing. He said okay, we'll review the way in which we're processing the visas to make sure that the checks are as strong as they should be.”
‘My big bump on the road”
Michael Wood says the “terribly hard period” when he was stood down from the Cabinet earlier this year is “just not on people’s minds” in the run-up to General Elections 2023.
The former minister was removed from the Cabinet over conflict of interest, and could secure only a modest ranking of 45 in the Labour Party’s list.
“Every single day, I go out to the local shops, I talk to people. I've had the odd person asked me about this issue but…people want to talk about the cost of living, they want to talk about healthcare.
“They vote on whether they think you will be a strong, genuine representative for them…and I stand on my record there.”
Wood pointed out the controversy was “my big bump on the road”, but he wasn’t letting that pull him back from what he loves the most.
“I really believe in politics and serving…The nature of politics is that it is really tough. If you want to play on having a long term career, it's never gonna always go up, up, up.
“You're going to have bumps in the road…Do you say this is enough? I've decided I love this…and I intend to keep working my way back up now.”
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