Pre-Budget warnings hold true

As expected, there was nothing in the budget on new immigration policies. Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway confirmed in a TV pre-Budget interview (May 13) that the Government’s broader immigration programme would be outlined in the next few weeks and he issued some warnings.

Lees-Galloway said he was interested in getting a better distribution of people into the regions where they’re urgently needed, and on reducing the pressure on Auckland.

One priority the Government has is the labour-market test, which determines if there is a real gap that needs to be filled and also asks of employers: ‘What are you actually offering, in terms of pay and conditions, and are you off offering a premium to attract people to your industry, to your job”.

The Minister warned the Government will place a much greater expectation on employers to demonstrate they have done everything that they can to make their job attractive, through the pay and conditions that they are offering, before they will have access to migrant workers.

Budget immigration points were:

• Increased resource at border to screen arriving passengers
• More Labour Inspectors to crack down on workplace abuse of migrant workers
• Increasing resource to target people who give unlawful immigration advice