New Zealand Labour building a base with new Kiwis

What were the latest developments regarding migration to New Zealand, both on the skilled migration and humanitarian track? What are the key elements of the political debate on migration in New Zealand?

Phil Twyford: New Zealand is a real immigration nation. It goes back to our British colonial history when settlers came from the UK to what they thought of as a little Britain in the South Seas. But over the last half century successive governments realized the country needed migrants to do jobs we didn’t have people for. Migrants from Samoa and Tonga came to work in factories in the 1960s and 70s. Now our Pacific communities are a well-established part of our national identity. For the last few decades East Asia and South Asia, and now the Philippines have been the biggest sources of migrants.

We also welcome refugees under our international obligations, but we haven’t been as generous and hospitable in taking the numbers that Germany has in recent years. Credit to you for that! In recent years many of our refugees have come from Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar.

All this has made Auckland, our biggest city, super diverse. The urban west Auckland electorate I represent has a mix of Māori, Pacific peoples, Indian, Chinese - and Pākeha (European) are a minority. Now 28% of Kiwis are born overseas. The country has struggled from time to time as most countries do with the established folks sometimes finding it hard to accept the newcomers or feeling threatened by them. We still have a lot of work to do but overall as a New Zealander I am proud of how we have managed this big social change. There is a recognition we are all migrants here one way or another, and we have to get along. We encourage new Kiwis to hold on to their customs and faiths and languages. We make a point of not asking people to give up their identity in order to become New Zealanders.

If you asked most people why it is important for us to welcome migrants they would say the country needs people to fill gaps in the workforce and help grow the economy. But probably many don’t realise just how dependent key industries like construction, dairy farming and healthcare are on migrant workers. Even more important is that like so many other countries we have an ageing population. For a long time to come we are going to need young migrants to pay the taxes that will fund the retirement and health care for our older citizens.

Somewhat unusually by international comparison, New Zealand allows for active political participation of recent migrants / non-citizens. What has been the experience, and is there bipartisan agreement on this concept?

Our law allows people to vote after they have had a resident visa for one year. They don’t need to be a citizen to vote. This is uncontroversial. I have never heard anyone question it. For me it is important because it says to people once you are here in New Zealand and you have the right to stay here, then you can vote and take part in our democracy. I think that is an important message to people about belonging, and having a voice in their new home.  When I am out campaigning in an election and I say this to people I can see it resonates with them.

You have actively engaged with migrant and refugee communities in your electorate to broaden the support base for the Labour Party. Has the approach been successful and what were the lessons learned from your engagement with these communities?

I have been trying some political organizing approaches to strengthen the Labour Party’s relationship with former migrant and refugee communities. Some of these communities love Labour and they see us as their party but they have low rates of voter turnout. During the 2023 election I led a project to reach out to the Afghan, Myanmar and Tuvalu diaspora communities with the aim of increasing their participation in the election. The three communities are very different but they had low voter turnout in common. Some of it was caused by language barriers. Sometimes they had brought with them a wariness or cynicism about politics from their home country. And for a lot of folks they are just so humble they felt voting was something more important people did.

Our aim was to empower these people to take part in the democratic process. To make the voice of their community heard. We recruited and trained teams of volunteer activists to work in their own communities, raising civic awareness about democracy and voting. They enrolled people to vote. When the elections came they knocked on doors and reminded people to vote, sometimes even taking them to the voting place and interpreting for them.

It was very moving to see this. The project was very successful and we learned a lot. Now we have begun a new organizing project with the Filipino community which is a large and fast-growing community. 

More generally, what are key opportunities for Labour to engage with the refugee and migrant population? Do identity politics and class struggle mix? What are the challenges in the broader context of party competition and public debate on the key topics of relevance in New Zealand?

This is important work for the Labour Party. Our society is changing fast and if we want to be relevant to tomorrow’s New Zealand and be a leading political force in our country we have to build strong political relationships with these new communities. In our past we built deep connections with Māori and Pacific communities based on values and identity that are vital parts of our party today. The challenge now is to build authentic relationships with the more recent migrants who have come from East and South Asia and the Philippines.