Editorial: Error of red tape

Professor Julian Paton, a recent immigrant from the United Kingdom, has had his piano impounded and the keys removed due to the ban in the trade of ivory. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand has a lot to attract new immigrants. Stunning scenery, good job opportunities and a way of life the envy of many.

In return, many immigrants have a lot to offer this country — particularly in areas where we have skills shortages.

There is competition for those seeking a new life. Australia is one example of a country that can drag potential new immigrants away when they are looking for a new place to build a life.

And so stories of Kafkaesque red tape do little to enhance our reputation. An English immigrant was stunned that his antique piano was impounded because it breached ivory importation laws.

Professor Julian Paton moved to New Zealand last November with his wife and two children. Among their possessions was an 1895 upright piano with 50 ivory keys.

Objects made before 1914 are usually exempt from the importation laws, providing the owner gets a certificate to say so. Paton's error was to fail to apply for the certificate.

The Auckland University heart disease researcher argues he was never told about the need to apply for paperwork.

But he received short shrift from the Department of Conservation which, in its wisdom, has removed the ivory.

To add insult to injury, DoC will charge Paton for the cost of that and the disposal of it.

Let's not even get into the needless the vandalism performed on a piece of history.

More importantly, this story and others like it spread like water torture, reinforcing a view that New Zealand is a difficult country to come to.

That will be a piano concerto to the ears of, for example, Sydney University's heart disease research department.

There have been other cases where immigrants with a lot to offer have been shunted out for reasons that seem less than valid.

These cases are, thankfully, rare. But each one carries a risk that New Zealand looks like a nation where bureaucracy strangles the freedom we believe we offer.