KEY POINTS:
The Herald asks three politicians: How should immigration policy react to take account of the recession and likely rising unemployment?
Lockwood Smith, National: Immigration policy should be responsive to the employment needs of the economy, so if skill and employment needs decline as in a recession, then immigrant numbers should also come down somewhat. It would not be consistent with our policy to just soldier on with fixed numbers of migrants and ignore the realities of employment opportunities in New Zealand.
Peter Brown, NZ First: We want migrants who are needed and essential to our economic well-being. We think numbers should be controlled so it's restricted to the skills we need. At the same time, we want our people who go overseas to be encouraged to stay here, so that would dampen the need for numbers coming in.
Clayton Cosgrove, Labour: It's something we have to monitor closely and regularly to ensure we are targeting the key skills and getting them in the numbers we need. One of the key things about our system is we can turn the tap on and off. No Kiwis will be displaced. Under the National Party, it's anything goes, just roll in the numbers.
