Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed satisfaction that her invitation to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recently held East Asia Summit in the Philippines was very warmly received.
“Certainly, the invitation was very warmly received,” Ms Ardern told The Indian Weekender in an exclusive interview, which was its first opportunity to speak with her after becoming the Prime Minister.
The Indian Weekender probed the Prime Minister on many issues of concern for the wider Kiwi-Indian community including law and order, immigration, international students, the 100 days programme of the new government and bilateral relationship between New Zealand and India.
Ms Ardern was at her eloquent best on almost all issues. However, it was on the issues of law and order and the invitation to the Indian Prime Minister Modi that she appeared most passionate about.
While on the law and order issue the Prime Minister was sombre in explaining why it did not feature prominently in the new government’s 100-day programme she was also at pains to respond to two individual cases related with law and order that have stirred sentiments within the community in the past two weeks.
The question of invitation to Prime Minister Modi brought out the spark and glee in her conversation, signalling her keen interest in NZ-India bilateral relationship and also her clear understanding of the huge expectations within the Kiwi-Indian community towards such a high-profile visit.
Law and order is a priority
On being probed why law and order did not feature prominently in the government’s high profile 100 days programme, Ms Ardern reassured that the only reason was the amount of work needed to fix the issue, which was apparently not possible in the first 100 days.
“Law and Order is absolutely a priority for us.
Owner of Opaheke Superette in Papakura Mr Nanu Patel and his wife Hasumata Patel beaten on the bight of Monday, November 27 (Picture: NZ Herald)
“Our first focus is of course increase in police numbers. We are striving to achieve additional 1800 numbers in Police and those numbers you don’t achieve in just 100 days,” Ms Ardern said.
Will look into case of Kiwibank dumping a local post shop owner
However, it was Ms Ardern's’s compassionate response on the latest case of Kiwibank's dumping of a Post Shop owner in Owairaka which was earlier raised by The Indian Weekender with Minister for Police and Small Businesses Stuart Nash on the same day, before raising with the PM, that was well received by the community.
“I am interested in that and will be following up with Kiwibank to understand what is driving their decision,” Ms Ardern said.
Owairaka Kiwibank franchise owner Bhasker Desai (IWK Picture)
Michael Wood made in charge of community safety
Continuing the focus on law and order the Prime Minister revealed to The Indian Weekender that Michael Wood, the MP for Mt Roskill and Parliamentary Under-Secretary, had been delegated the special task of looking after community safety issues within ethnic communities.
As part of that responsibility, Mr Wood has already started to look into the case of Kiwibank's dumping of the Post Shop owner and is following up with the bank.
Immigration – the changing narrative
On immigration and the situation of international students already in New Zealand, Ms Ardern continued what essentially could be described as one of the most effective changes in the narrative in recent times, whereby pre-election sensationalism on cutting down numbers in the range of 20-30000 has been given away in favour of “making the overall settings right”.
It is important to note that the Labour Party’s pre-election announcement repeatedly vowed reducing immigration numbers in the range of 20-30,000, raising concerns among businesses and section of ethnic communities.
However, this has changed since Ms Ardern took over the party leadership, gradually re-crafting the narrative on immigration, moving away from a fixation on numbers in favour of correcting overall settings of immigration.
This is surely reassuring for the Kiwi-Indian community, especially international students.
Picture: Image for reference only
“I want to make sure that we put out our export education market out there -- then those who come to NZ could be assured of good quality course that also protects our reputation.
“For those who are here [international students], there is no change in policy.
“We cannot bring a policy which affects midway, someone who is already studying in NZ,” Ms Ardern affirmed.
Invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The Indian Weekender’s enquiry on the follow up from the Prime Minister’s Office on the personal invitation extended to the Indian Prime Minister Modi for a visit to NZ was responded with an unwavering conviction.
“The suggestion was that our officials would continue to work with each other to see what would be possible,” Ms Ardern said in a flash.
The Prime Minister also demonstrated her astute understanding of the huge expectations within the Kiwi-Indian community toward high-profile visits and the overall well-being of the bilateral relationship between NZ and India.
“It was a fantastic bilateral, and usually these meetings are often quite short.
“But we met and spoke for some time, as we did informally in between our meetings.
“What I found from those discussions was the level of interest in the NZ-India bilateral relationship, what we could do to enhance it. What we can do to increase trade and export opportunity.
“And I specifically mention about the community I worked amongst here in Mt Albert [and areas around] and gave him a sense of how warmly he will be received,” Prime Minister Ardern said.