**Submission statement**: In recent months, India and New Zealand have drawn closer to signing a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement that will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 95% of New Zealand’s exports to India. The deal has been championed by the leader of New Zealand’s National Party, the largest member of the ruling coalition. The agreement also includes provisions for limited numbers of skilled Indian workers to enter New Zealand on temporary visas. NZ trade minister Todd McClay stated that the workers would fill genuine skill shortages and would be subject to New Zealand’s standards and requirements. ”We have a need for many of these workers in the economy,” he said.
However, New Zealand First’s deputy leader Shane Jones proceeded to withdraw support for the deal in a [controversial video on Twitter,](https://xcancel.com/TheZeitgeistNZ/status/2046343645654311048) in which he claimed the deal would encourage a “butter chicken tsunami” of immigrants from India to drive down wages, clog up roads, and overwhelm New Zealand’s healthcare systems. Christopher Luxon, the head of the National Party, expressed his disapproval of Jones’ “hyperbolic” comments but stopped short of calling them racist, leading to strong reactions from other members of Parliament.
***
**Why this matters**: New Zealand’s latest [*Social Cohesion in New Zealand* report](https://www.helenclark.foundation/research/social-cohesion-in-new-zealand) has revealed Kiwis are becoming less comfortable with immigration, with 36% now saying immigration levels are too high. In addition, over half of New Zealanders now think that immigrants do not make good citizens. According to economist Shamubeel Eaqub, most of the focus is on immigrants from India and China. “It’s a very particular type of opposition to immigration. I don’t think it’s immigration, per se. I think it’s much more of a rise of racism that sits underneath it.” A [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment report](https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/14732-community-perceptions-of-migrants-and-immigration-dec-2020) found that while 61% of New Zealanders surveyed were positive about migrants from the UK, only 44 % were positive about migrants from India and China. Jones’ comments, as well as his subsequent refusal to apologize for them, come against this backdrop of hardening anti-immigration sentiment in New Zealand, exacerbated by a sharp rise in housing prices that has only begun to cool down last year.
JaceFlores on
I’m skeptical New Zealand cuisine, if it’s anything like their motherland, comes anywhere close to the deliciousness of butter chicken
PhinsFan17 on
“Butter chicken tsunami” and “taco trucks on every corner”, stop digging my friend, I’m already sold.
3 Comments
**Submission statement**: In recent months, India and New Zealand have drawn closer to signing a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement that will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 95% of New Zealand’s exports to India. The deal has been championed by the leader of New Zealand’s National Party, the largest member of the ruling coalition. The agreement also includes provisions for limited numbers of skilled Indian workers to enter New Zealand on temporary visas. NZ trade minister Todd McClay stated that the workers would fill genuine skill shortages and would be subject to New Zealand’s standards and requirements. ”We have a need for many of these workers in the economy,” he said.
However, New Zealand First’s deputy leader Shane Jones proceeded to withdraw support for the deal in a [controversial video on Twitter,](https://xcancel.com/TheZeitgeistNZ/status/2046343645654311048) in which he claimed the deal would encourage a “butter chicken tsunami” of immigrants from India to drive down wages, clog up roads, and overwhelm New Zealand’s healthcare systems. Christopher Luxon, the head of the National Party, expressed his disapproval of Jones’ “hyperbolic” comments but stopped short of calling them racist, leading to strong reactions from other members of Parliament.
***
**Why this matters**: New Zealand’s latest [*Social Cohesion in New Zealand* report](https://www.helenclark.foundation/research/social-cohesion-in-new-zealand) has revealed Kiwis are becoming less comfortable with immigration, with 36% now saying immigration levels are too high. In addition, over half of New Zealanders now think that immigrants do not make good citizens. According to economist Shamubeel Eaqub, most of the focus is on immigrants from India and China. “It’s a very particular type of opposition to immigration. I don’t think it’s immigration, per se. I think it’s much more of a rise of racism that sits underneath it.” A [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment report](https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/14732-community-perceptions-of-migrants-and-immigration-dec-2020) found that while 61% of New Zealanders surveyed were positive about migrants from the UK, only 44 % were positive about migrants from India and China. Jones’ comments, as well as his subsequent refusal to apologize for them, come against this backdrop of hardening anti-immigration sentiment in New Zealand, exacerbated by a sharp rise in housing prices that has only begun to cool down last year.
I’m skeptical New Zealand cuisine, if it’s anything like their motherland, comes anywhere close to the deliciousness of butter chicken
“Butter chicken tsunami” and “taco trucks on every corner”, stop digging my friend, I’m already sold.