Dialogue: Immigration is only part of the plan

By SIMON CARLAW*

Immigration is not an end in itself.

It is concerned with skills and motivation. Nearly every part of the New Zealand economy - certainly the parts that make things or deliver services - is short of skills and experience.

We are exporting talent and skills and it is not clear that we are replacing them.

Part of the reason is that we have always approached immigration as something on its own; not necessarily even connected to emigration, much less the wider issues.

In reality, immigration is one tool from a toolbox that should be labelled skills: getting, keeping and tracking skills. Competition for skills is a global game.

Our welcome mat can bring problems or prosperity. Some of us fear enclaves of foreigners who do not integrate or learn the language, causing dependency and friction.

This is a view that sees our country as limited in capacity to grow, and immigrants only as takers, not givers. This dependency outlook can become reality if our immigration policy is not thought through carefully.

The reality is that we must approach immigration with the view that New Zealand needs to grow, supporting and being supported by an increasing number of skilled people.

The programme launched last month by Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel gives encouraging signs of a skills focus.

Priority categories in the programme will mean three skilled or business migrants for every two humanitarian or family migrants - a mix that is progressive as well as compassionate - equating to at least 27,000 skilled and business migrants each year.

The programme could be improved by fixing immigration in the wider picture; by ensuring a holistic, whole-of-government approach that integrates immigration policy more closely with education, qualifications recognition and social policy; by tracking ex-pat Kiwis so that some may be tempted home.

Immigration should be part of a wider human capital investment policy that includes education, training, skills development, skills recognition and retention. This would clarify many immigration decisions and send clearer signals to would-be migrants.

Immigration as a standalone policy makes it vulnerable to being swamped by pressing humanitarian needs from all over the world. But immigration as part of a skills retention and development policy will help us to compete for skills globally.

We have a brain drain and there is no shame in acknowledging it. Smaller and relatively poorer countries will naturally feel the effects of international competition for human capital.

We just need to work smarter to attract skilled people. Setting up communications systems to keep in touch with ex-pat Kiwis, or launching cross-border enterprises involving them - these are useful but on their own will not solve the brain drain problem.

We must offer what attracts skilled people. Quality of life, leisure and safety are drawcards, but we should offer an economy in which their skills can bear fruit and grow through proximity with other skilled people.

We need a critical mass of commercial activity for this - an economy that is growing enough for skilled people to make use of opportunities, with lots of competition to keep everyone sharp.

And skilled people value education. New Zealand must offer an education system that will polish and refresh their skills, and provide first-world education for their children.

The bargain must not be one-sided. We should expect motivation on the part of new citizens - motivation that seeks to better itself within a generation, as thousands from Europe did through New York's Ellis Island.

We require a level of motivation beyond merely gaining a passport for money that can move globally, or at least across the Tasman, in a twinkling. This expectation should be made clear to those who seek to call themselves New Zealanders.

Well-managed immigration can benefit us enormously. We must focus on skills, improve our education system and remove barriers to commercial activity to gain the benefit.

* Simon Carlaw is the chief executive of Business NZ.