Fix flaws to open migrant door: Robson

By PATRICK GOWER

A Ministry of Refugee Affairs should be set up as part of an "open door" policy towards migrants, says Alliance cabinet minister Matt Robson.

Mr Robson was speaking at a public meeting about migrant and refugee issues attended by more than 200 people in Auckland on Monday night.

He said New Zealand's present immigration framework was fundamentally flawed.

The meeting, at the Glenfield Leisure Centre, addressed many of the difficulties faced by migrants as they fought red tape on issues as wide-ranging as employment discrimination and the detainment of asylum-seekers.

Mr Robson said the Government needed to change its approach to immigration and "stop shutting the doors."

He said a Ministry of Refugee Affairs should be established to help ensure Government agencies addressed refugee and immigration issues separately.

"Refugees should not be dealt with by immigration [officials], who are predisposed to be as suspicious as possible," he said. "If Einstein [had] tried to come to New Zealand, I'm sure he would have been detained, interrogated and turned away at Auckland Airport.

"Even Jesus Christ probably would have been sent away as a vagrant."

He said he had approached the Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel, about an end to having asylum-seekers detained at Mt Eden Prison while they awaited hearings about refugee status.

Employment issues for new migrants were also discussed. A representative of the Iraqi Mandaen community, which comprises just over 170 people, said only 12 out of 27 qualified engineers in the group had been able to find work.

Mr Robson said the Government needed to put pressure on professional organisations that put up unnecessary and discriminatory barriers to immigrants.

He said there was also a need to investigate organisations like Winz, which often mismatched migrants' skills with the wrong jobs.