John Banks calls for 'sensible' plan on migration

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Auckland Mayor John Banks has called for a coherent immigration policy, saying the influx of migrants is placing a worrying strain on city services and bringing in unhappy people facing an uncertain future.

At the same time, Greater Auckland's four city councils are filling some of the gaps in support for new migrants.

"We need sensible management because there is a tremendous pressure on the city's economic infrastructure and social services," said Mr Banks.

The country needed an immigration policy that helped people to integrate into their new community from the time they left their native country, he said.

Social services were not coping with the number of migrants who had been doctors, lawyers or engineers but were now washing dishes, painting houses or driving taxis because their qualifications were not accepted.

Mr Banks said he did not want to be accused of "cranking up things to alarmist proportions, but I see parts of the city developing in a way that doesn't add much to the city".

"We should talk about the problems and do something about them."

However, Mr Banks declined to say which parts of the city he was concerned about, as good people and families lived there and he did not want them branded.

The opening of the Auckland Regional Migrant Resource Centre a month ago at the Three Kings Plaza was a positive move, he said.

The centre is a joint project by Auckland and Manukau City Councils, Government immigration, housing and work and income agencies and the Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Migrant helper Penny Jorgenson said many new migrants found integrating extremely difficult and faced language barriers, employment, housing and cultural differences.

"Sometimes even finding out basic information such as where to do the shopping or how to get a driver's licence is very stressful," she said.

The centre's multilingual information line helped with such matters.

Manukau City hopes to have a similar centre by the end of the year.

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis said his city was coping with the demands on its infrastructure, despite growing by 6000 people a year.

New migrants had boosted investment and jobs for young people in the city. But he said support services for migrants were inadequate and fragmented, particularly in the key areas of information, orientation, English language and employment.

The city was forming an action plan to help migrants settle.

The plan was being developed with advice from community groups and new settlers' communities, and was likely to suggest roles for the council in advocacy, co-ordinating services and working with other agencies.

Among the proposals, a welcome pack could be prepared in different languages to give to new residents.

Manukau's population is 51 per cent European, 27 per cent Pacific Islander, 16 per cent Maori and 15 per cent Asian.

In the west, Waitakere City is this week launching a migrant and refugee support project called New Out West.

City councillor Annette Fenton said it aimed to get Government and other agencies working together to build on existing services and fill the gaps.

One major gap was information and support in job hunting.

The project would provide chances for work experience, give out information, and advocate and provide a forum through which ethnic communities could influence policies and services.

Anoma de Silva, of the Waitakere Multicultural Society, said ethnic communities needed a voice to lobby local and central government about issues affecting them.

At the 2001 census, 46,413 people in Waitakere, or 28 per cent of residents, were born overseas, compared with 38,373 people, or 25 per cent, at the 1996 census.

In North Shore City, an Ethnic Network was formed last Saturday to support migrant groups and refugees.

Immigration Service briefing papers to the Government last year said English-speaking migrants took five to 10 years to achieve employment rates and incomes equivalent to those of New Zealanders.

"For migrants who integrated less readily - typically those with lower education or less skill with English - average convergence times were in the range of 25-40 years."

Auckland population

* Auckland has about 30 per cent of the country's population and is the destination for most immigrants.

* Between 1996 and 2001 the region's population rose by about 90,000 people to 1,158,891.

* At the 2001 census, the region was 68.5 per cent European, 14 per cent Pacific Island, 13.8 per cent Asian, 11.6 per cent Maori and 1.2 per cent other (people can list more than one ethnic group).