Pike River Migrants Face Deportation From New Zealand, Happy Christmas?

Despite all the talk about keeping valuable, skilled miners in New Zealand following the explosion and subsequent closure of the Pike River Colliery, a number of immigrants working at the pit have been told they have to leave New Zealand in a few weeks if they don’t find alternative employment. They are already living in New Zealand illegally and say that if they stay on they will be deported.

Shockingly of the 20 migrants, all from ‘western’ countries, including 12 from South Africa, only 2 have managed to attain permanent residency. This case highlights the perilous state that many migrants on work permits find themselves in when they emigrate to New Zealand and how little protection they have when they lose their jobs. It also highlights how dependent New Zealand is on skilled migrant labour and how it fails to retain the people it really needs.

This appeared in Monday’s Greymouth Star newspaper:

Out-of-work miners who were lured to the West Coast for employment at Pike River say they have been given weeks to find work or face deportation.
Of the 20 migrants from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Germany who were made redundant last week after the hapless Pike River Coal Company was placed in receivership, only two have permanent residency.
One UK man, who moved to Greymouth a year ago specifically to work at Pike River, told the Greymouth Star he had been given five weeks to find work or leave town.
Immigration New Zealand officials were in Greymouth for two days last week to deliver more bad news to the newly-redundant miners.
“When I walked in I was told I was now living in New Zealand illegally and that they would turn a ‘blind eye’ for five weeks while I either found another job in Greymouth or left the country,” the UK miner, who asked for anonymity, said… read much more here

The New Zealand mining industry brought these men over from their homes countries so that they could work in their mines, when the jobs disappear are they to be thrown on the scrap heap and treated like undesirables? At the very least Work and Income and should be pulling out all the stops and finding them suitable employment, and if that’s not possible fully fund their repatriation expenses (including shipping of their household goods) or onward migration to another country that deserves them more.
One of the redundant UK miners told the paper

“I’ve just lost my mates in that mine, we are still in shock, now we are being forced to leave — what sort of Christmas are we going to have?”
…Bernie Monk, elected spokesman for the families of the 29 mine victims, said the situation for the migrant workers was “gut wrenching”.
He personally knew one of the men affected.
“Because his contract with Pike River is now null and void he no longer has a job. He has been told he has to find another job over $55,000 otherwise he will need to leave the country.
“He loves this place and doesn’t want to leave. This guy is still getting to grips with losing his workmates and then to have to deal with this … when will it end?”
Mr Monk said he had been working with West Coast MPs to try to get some compassion under the circumstances.”

We wish the men and their families the best of luck with getting some compassion, which they are more than entitled to.  We just hope that their impending deportation doesn’t affect their redundancy payments.


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Posts tagged:  Jobs for Kiwis

Philippines warns citizens against NZ work-to-residence scheme:

“”Philippines consul-general Emilie Shi says Immigration New Zealand is not doing enough to warn would-be applicants about the difficulties of finding a job or telling them that Kiwis will be given preference by employers.
“Immigration New Zealand continues to say what a great place this country is to come live and work in, but they cover up the fact that it is very difficult to find a job here, or that they will be treated as second-class workers under the scheme,” Ms Shi said….”"

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Gay Hate Crime In Moeraki, New Zealand.

Two North Otago men accused of kidnapping a man last week are facing seven charges including  kidnapping and assault of a male at  Moeraki last Friday, unlawfully entering and remaining in his house and another house at Moeraki, threatening a second man and assaulting him twice.

The charges stemmed from an incident where the men allegedly ordered two men to leave town because of the mistaken belief they were gay. Source

The two accused, a 41 year old man from Oamaru and a 40 year old from Hampden, have had their names suppressed.

Hampden police Senior Constable Darrin Low told Dunedin District Court (on Monday) that one man who had been detained said he had “never known fear like it“. Source

Our thoughts are with the victims and we wish them a full and speedy recovery from their ordeal.
It’s good to see that police are taking this incident seriously and are prosecuting the alleged offenders, however it does highlight how shockingly bigoted and violent some of the more rural areas of New Zealand can be.

But is ‘gay bashing,’ in all its forms, limited just to the rural backwaters of New Zealand, or is there something dark lurking within the collective fragile Kiwi psyche  ?

Air NZ’s Gay Kiss Refusal



Following complaints from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people Air New Zealand said recently that they will remove a scene from an in-flight safety video where All Black player, Richard Kahui,  refused to kiss a gay flight attendant on the cheek.

The video, which had already been shown to over two million people on Air NZ’s aircraft, apparently without any thought as to whether it may have marginalised or offended some people, also raised concern from a university professor who feared it may have caused gay male suicide. Is it any wonder in a country where ads like this next one are permitted, legitimising homophobia:

Low Carb Beer ‘Queer’




Earlier this month GayNZ reported on an ad campaign by Moa Beer, which suggested that anyone drinking low carb beer was ‘queer’:

“Moa Beer is offering to apologise in person to anyone offended by a t-shirt campaign which suggests low carb beer drinkers are queer, after an outpouring of disgust and disappointment on Facebook.

The boutique brewer’s marketing department was giving away t-shirts which said “Low Carb Beers”, with the a pink ‘Q’ superimposed over the letter ‘B’ so it read “Qeers”, promoting the fact that Moa’s brews are “full strength”.

When asked by GayNZ.com Daily News whether the campaign is saying that anyone who drinks low carb beer must be queer, Moa’s marketing manager replied “yes”, but also so replied “yes” to the question of whether Moa was bothered that it had offended some gay people.

The ensuing story sparked angry backlash on its Facebook page…” read the full report here

So what’s the message here – Homophobia in NZ is acceptable until it results in physical harm and assault?
Comments left on the beer company’s wall included:

“Yesterday a friend of mine was threatened with being bottled, sworn at and called a faggot because he walked down Ponsonby Road holding his boyfriend’s hand.
THIS is why, unfortunately, NZ isn’t mature enough for Moa’s advertisement. I know it’s meant in humour, there are too many people who see that kind of advertising as legitimising their homophobia. Take Toyota and the ‘bugger’ commercials. Suddenly it was acceptable. It was on wheel covers. It was publicly ok to say the word. This will happen with homophobia if advertisements like Moa’s are seen as ok.”

“It’s reading debates like this that I’m pleased I’ve left New Zealand. Considering it’s nearly 2011 it’s amazing how backward kiwis can still be. We need to be more accepting. To those that posted “PC madness” “take a joke” etc., it’s easy to say that when you are part of the majority. Try putting yourself in the shoes… of someone in a minority group and feel what it’s like to be oppressed; dealing with this stuff day in, day out.
ps I’m not gay.
pps won’t be buying the beer.”

“The only people that will take offensive to it are ‘Queers’, I don’t get mad at ads that take the piss out of woman, as a lot of beer adverts do, eg Tui…. I say grow a set of balls and laugh… by the way well done MOA by the reaction this has had it means your advertising has worked!!!”

“Another ‘Like’ just to post on your wall.
I really thought we had made progress, as a country, away from homophobic shyte like your QEER T Shirt campaign.
Like many, I’d never heard of you but the bad news is, now I have, I don’t like you.
Epic PR failure.”

Other stories presently in the NZ News you may be interested in:
Upset by sexual moves, murder trial told
Gay community calls for justice over banjo killing
Thanks to Readerofe2 for the links




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Tourist Seriously Inured By NZ Dolphin Boat

Today’s Stuff is carrying a story about an Australian tourist who was flown to hospital after being cut by a boat propeller in Ruakaka Bay, Marlborough Sounds shortly before midday.

The woman, who is said to be 49  year old Catherine Carlyle from Adelaide, came into contact with the propeller as she jumped off the back of the Dolphin Watch Ecotours boat, sustaining deep lacerations to her legs and a possible fracture.

According to the news report

“…When the Wellington-based Westpac Rescue Helicopter met the boat at the wharf in Picton ambulance officers were already treating the woman.
Pilot Logan Taylor said the cuts to her legs “were quite deep”.
“She got told it was OK to hop in and obviously the prop was still turning,” he said.
“They were going to do some snorkelling.”
The woman was flown to Wellington Hospital where she is being treated for her injuries…” Read the full report here

Our thoughts are with Ms Carlyle and we wish her a full and speedy recovery from her injuries.

Judging from the severity of her wounds it is possible that the propeller was still turning as she entered the water, if so she was very fortunate not to have suffered massive blood loss or the loss of a limb. We wonder how many “near misses’ may have happened with other people before she was injured.

Update 12 December 2010 – Bad News for NZ Tourism, Safety Needs Hard Look At

A Blenheim based relative of the injured woman was reported in Stuff as saying:

“It’s absolutely hideous,” he said. “That it could ever happen is just crazy. It’s just bad news for New Zealand tourism. It’s just another activity New Zealand is renowned for that has now gone wrong. The safety issues need a really hard look at.”

Further details of the incident were revealed on Stuff:

“The group had already done one dive when the boat stopped in Ruakaka for a second dive.
The tour guide blew the whistle to say it was safe to jump.
Mrs Carlyle got caught in the boats propellers and had deep cuts all over her legs. One leg was broken.
She was airlifted to Wellington Hospital and had surgery yesterday afternoon…” read the full report here

A number of deaths have occurred recently whilst people have been swimming with dolphins in New Zealand.

Last month Swedish tourist Anita Engman, age 56, drowned whilst swimming with dolphins in the sea off Kaikoura. She was on organised event with Encounter Kaikoura and had been on holiday in New Zealand with her husband and friends from Sweden.

Three other people have died whilst swimming with dolphins or whales in New Zealand, at the time of their deaths this activity was not governed by any guidelines or standards. Among them was American tourist Emily May Parker, from Denver Colorado, who was found face down in Marlborough Sound whilst on a tour with Dolphin Ecowatch Tours in October 2009.

According to an article published in the Marlborough Express at the time neither Maritime NZ nor the Department of Labour were to make any investigation into Ms Paker’s death. Even though the coroner’s investigation had yet to be completed, they believed that her death was from “natural causes” and that it was a “police matter”.

Australia Updates Travel Advice For NZ – Australia recently issued the following advice to travellers to New Zealand: (emphasis ours)

“Many tourists safely undertake adventure activities in New Zealand. However, many adventure tourism activities have inherent risks, and there have been a number of serious accidents involving Australians and other tourists, some resulting in deaths. Some operators have been found to be negligent.Travellers need to make their own judgements about the risks involved in individual or group activities and safety standards of individual operators. We strongly recommend travellers inquire with individual operators about the safety standards adhered to, whether these standards are applied across the industry and the risks involved in the activity. We recommend travellers hold travel insurance and complementary accident or income protection insurance and understand what circumstances and activities are not covered by the policies. You should be aware that safety standards in New Zealand’s adventure tourism industry may differ between individual operators and may differ from those in Australia.” (Sept 2010)

Article in the Sydney Morning Herald - “Adventure tourism a deadly business” August 24 2010:

“NZPA
Adventure tourists are killing themselves for a good time in New Zealand.
So much so that the government is looking at tougher measures to improve safety in the industry.
During five years (July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2009) 39 people died in NZ in what are recorded as workplace activities.
But the actual number is likely to be much higher as recreational deaths were not included…” read full article here

Further reading  – Our NZ Adventure Tourism Facts and Stats page
 
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