Immigration has been high for many years - NZ governments have ... read more

Immigration has been high for many years - NZ governments have enticed migrants here with the promise of work, homes, education for their children, the opportunity to live well and safely.Migrants have paid a great deal of money for the 'privilege' of moving to NZ - and now we have an obligation to provide the society and services that will support them to thrive here. 


There are many stories from now-adult migrants who came to NZ as children and went to school here reporting being bullied and harassed due their accents, skin colour, and lunchbox contents. A Ministry for Ethnic Communities will advocate for safe schools that educate about accepting other cultures, languages and customs, teaching English language and NZ customs to children, the same for adults in the workplace. We have seen reports of [insert here: Indian, Chinese etc] businesses ripping off their countrymen only to claim they didn't know they weren't complying with NZ workplace legislation - well, a Ministry for Ethnic Communities could support education and help monitor compliance
To do otherwise is short-sighted: risking pockets of not-integrated and excluded communities harbouring resentment (remember the Bondi Beach riots of a few years ago, with youth from - I think - different Middle Eastern communities fighting each other) or not achieving their potential in the either the workplace as employees or as business entrepreneurs.
A Ministry is NOT generosity by the government - they have an obligation to provide services incurred when the migrant paid their fees to Immigration NZ, especially if the migrant came here to get an education: foreign students pay exorbitant fees.
NZ - thanks to successive government policy - is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world - an supportive government ministry to help ensure that it is a peaceful and stable one is essential.