Another British Migrant May Be Forced To Leave NZ

 It looks as if there is evidence that the colloquially named "Jobs for kiwis" policy may still be being implemented in New Zealand. A highly regarded British employee may be forced to leave the country because his work permit may not be renewed despite his employer being unable to find someone to fill the post. This is from an article by Rhonda Markby in the Timaru Herald 

Boss can't find worker to replace Brit

"Timaru businessman Stuart Cushing has not found himself a new employee.

And his former employee, a man he would happily still be employing, still hopes to convince Immigration Services he should not have to leave New Zealand. The problems started for Mr Cushing and his employee of one year, Robin White, a month ago when Mr White was told his year-long work permit would not be renewed. Mr White and his family came to New Zealand from Britain for the start of what they expected to be a new life. 

Mr Cushing had advertised a job vacancy, Mr White had applied, and the pair had worked together successfully.The problems started when Mr White applied for his work permit to be extended.
It was not renewed as the Immigration Service believed there were New Zealanders available to take up the position, which involved carrying out building alterations for those with disabilities.
Winz has been unable to find a suitable employee for Mr Cushing.

He then advertised the vacancy, but of the four or five who applied, none wanted to work fulltime. As Mr Cushing does not have all the skills required to carry out the alterations himself, he is considering closing his company.

Mr White has contacted Rangitata MP Jo Goodhew and Immigration Services to investigate options that would enable him to get a new work permit. That permit would also allow his family to remain in New Zealand after January 20."

Another article by the same reporter "Temporary visa gives no guarantee" adds the following information:

"Though about 30 per cent of all temporary workers gained permanent residency within five years, only 22 per cent of temporary workers from Britain did so. "

Head of Immigration New Zealand is reported as having said:

"The service's policy had always been based on ensuring New Zealanders had the first opportunity to fill job vacancies."

But, as we've maintained before, if Kiwis were available/willing/able to do the work migrants would not have been brought in to New Zealand in the first place. Why force out gainfully employed migrants to free up their jobs for New Zealander's?

How important is migration to the NZ economy? the words "life and blood" immediately spring to mind. In a recent conference on the Economic Impact of Migration in New Zealand Jonathan Coleman said

"If we closed off immigration entirely the consequences for our economy would be profound. Without current levels of inward migration, within 15 years, both our population base and economy would shrink dramatically. The statistics speak for themselves.

By 2021, our population would drop by 9.6 per cent.

Our GDP would drop by 11.3 per cent.

There would be a 10.9 per cent drop in the available labour force.

The export sector would be savaged with volumes dropping by 12.9 per cent.

And to complete the picture, GDP per capita would fall by 1.8 percent - $1,000 for every man woman and child in New Zealand.

That is a frightening picture of a blighted future that illustrates in the starkest terms why immigration matters. If any doubts about this still persist, they must surely be extinguished by the findings of this very important report..." read more here

 So why take such a hard line on forcing migrant out of stable and secure jobs as their permits expire? on the off chance that there may be a New Zealander somewhere in the country that may fancy having a stab at doing it?

For posts about other migrants similarly affected see label :  Jobs for Kiwis
See also:
Migrants' Tales - excerpts from migrant accounts about the issues they face in NZ and a UK Daily Mail article "Expat's paradise lost in NZ's job crisis"

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Karmail Singh Refused Entry To Club Because He Wore A Turban

In an incredibly dehumanising and insensitive example of both religious and racial bigotry gentleman Karnail Singh turned up to a lunch at the Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club (ed. cosmopolitan?) to honour his service to the community and was forced to return home because "headwear" was not allowed in the club. According to Hannah Norton of the Manukau Courier:


"Club staff told him the turban was "headwear" and wearing headwear in the club’s bar is against the club rules.He could wear the turban in the club’s function room but he would have to go through the bar to get to it. 

 photo Neil Duddy

But Mr Singh says taking his turban off was out of the question – it’s a religious requirement that’s seen him wear it since he was six years old. He even wears a small one when he goes to bed. "This is not headwear – this is part of my religion," he says. "
the article concluded with the following:
"When approached by the Manukau Courier, cosmopolitan club manager Patricia Rangi refused to comment claiming the paper covered "only bad news"."We don’t have a comment – it’s old news and the guy is wrong."

No. He wasn't.

He was being asked to submit to the equivalent of a strip search before being allowed to enter a social club, it's only a special brand of warped logic that can accuse him for being at fault.


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NZ Farmers Plan To 'Factory Farm' Dairy Cows

 Reports are saying that farming companies and the government are locking horns over applications to set-up 16 factory diary farms in NZ.

"Three companies* have applied to set up 16 new farms in the central South Island's Mackenzie Basin, keeping up to 18,000 cows in cubicle stables** 24 hours a day for eight months of the year

In Parliament yesterday Prime Minister John Key said the Government didn't support it and Agriculture Minister David Carter had asked for urgent advice about how it was affected by the animal welfare code. (ed. we hope this is better for cows than for NZ's sows in stalls)

Federated Farmers said the "so-called factory farming" cut costs, was environmentally friendly and would not tarnish New Zealand's international reputation."

Are they living on the same planet as the rest of us?

Ads like the above and images of "Anchor" cows merrily munching through acres of pristine green, green grass have been used for decades to sell NZ dairy to the world. It's naive to imagine that the average consumer, who already searches out free range eggs and poultry in the supermarket and is starting to do the same with pork products, is going to buy dairy from cows kept in stalls for the majority of the year. One can only guess what these penned cows will be fed on...palm kernel cake perhaps? NZ already buys 1.1 million tonnes of the stuff, second only to the whole of the EC.


 "We are lucky cows..."

Ah but wait...New Zealand has a precedents for this. Dairy "giant" Fonterra (who have 'come out' against the proposal) already has a 35ha Chinese farm in Tangshan, Hebei province, east of Beijing. 3000 Freisian heifers arrived on the farm from NZ in May 2008 and the herd now has more than 4858 animals. The cows are milked three times a day, producing enough milk to fill 2  30-tonne tankers each day. It is a containment system, not pastoral, so the cows live inside and do not graze grass. See "Fonterra's feedlot farm in China underway". The construction of the farm was managed by Beca International, an employee owned independent company founded in NZ over 8o years ago.

When John Key visited China recently with his "Gang of Seven" to drum up business for New Zealand the group included Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden and  Beca Group chairman Robert Durrant. We leave you to draw your own conclusions.

And some farms in New Zealand already have the barns in place, such as this north Otago dairy farm at Papapkaio near Oamaru. It's only a 600 unit facility, but there's no indication of how long the cows will stay in the barn for each year. So are the current advertising campaigns already stretching the point?


 "there's no such thing as the great indoors, only our cows are free to roam all year round"

Given the massive profits that dairy farming, in both NZ and China, generates for the NZ economy every year the politicians' objections sound like nothing other than political grandstanding. We predict that it is highly likely these plans will go ahead, and if the practice is shown to be successful many more farmers will follow suit.

* Southdown Holdings, Five Rivers, and Williamson Holdings (source)

** TechniPharm - "BIG Farms, BIG Sheds, BIG Results" (click on link to see photos) are said to be supplying the massive concrete floored, cubicled sheds.

They design units for herds of 100-3,000 cows. The cost of a 600 cow unit is thought to be $2-2.5 million. The largest shed is 135m (1.5 times the length of a rugby field) by 34m - 5,000sqm (4,590 sqm to be exact) Based on the given figures for the maximum shed and herd sizes (5,000/3,000) that seems to equate to a space of 1.53 - 1.6 square metres per cow, not allowing for walkways and channels, which seems very small.

The argument that cubicled cows must be 'happy' otherwise they would simply stop producing milk is an invalid one - sows crammed into tight stalls bear multiple litters to full term and keep lactating despite their confined conditions and battery hens would've been phased out years ago if they failed to produce eggs.

Later reports in the Timaru Herald stated that "The cows would be installed in cubicles for 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, and 12 hours a day for the remaining four months." and that the government were planning to stay out of the debate for the time being.

See also:
Cubicle dairy farmer fined 3 times:
"Cornelis Zeestraten, also known as Kees, is the director of Five Rivers Ltd, which wants to build seven dairy farms near Omarama, with plans to keep up to 7,000 cows in cubicle stables 24 hours a day for up to eight months of the year. Zeestraten is also the director of Union Station Dairies Ltd, which owns a Tussock Creek (Central Southland) farm that was fined $25,000 by the Environment Court in August for unlawfully discharging dairy shed effluent to land. The company was fined $5000 in 2004, and $15,000 in 2007, for similar offending."

"Plea to preserve paradise"
Fragile ecosystems in the Mckenzie Basin are threatened by dairying expansion.

"Dairy Farming - The factory farmed fool's gold"
Page with links and resources from SAFE



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