It is telling that the increase in immigrants projected in the Auckland Council's 30-year plan has attracted very little comment. Until now, that is. Bill Rayner, Grey Power's Auckland zone director, has spoken out against the prospect of people of Asian origin comprising almost 30 per cent of Aucklanders in 2021. That is up from 19 per cent in 2006 and just 5.5 per cent in 1991. This, says Mr Rayner, bodes ill for the community and lifestyle of the region's older residents. They are "under serious threat from the rapid and huge changes in size and ethnic mix projections in the Auckland Plan," he says in a submission to the council.
Mr Rayner is right about the extent of the change. Population trends mean, in effect, that Auckland's three main ethnic groups of Europeans, Asian, and people of Maori and Pacific heritage will soon be of roughly equal size. There will always be people fearful of change of this pace and of the increasing diversity of society. But Mr Rayner is certainly wrong to believe his concerns are widely shared.
The lack of reaction to the Auckland Plan's projection speaks volumes of the changes in attitude since the 1990s when Winston Peters began ranting about immigration invasions and New Zealand being "dragged into the status of an Asian colony". In fact, the increase in the Asian population has created no problems that he and others predicted. There will always be claims along the lines that immigrants push up house prices and increase demand on hospitals and schools. Some of these may have a kernel of truth; most are totally unwarranted. In any event, they are far outweighed by the economic activity and other positives brought by migrants. And if the recent increase in immigrants from Asia has created no significant problems, why should a further increase be the subject of fear?
Other Grey Power officials understand this. The national president, Roy Reid, has described Mr Rayner's submission as racist, and said it did not reflect the views of the organisation's membership. Auckland's population mix was, he said, "something we are going to have to learn to live with". Mr Reid has, in particular, challenged Mr Rayner's call for decisions to be made about Auckland's "optimum size and ethnicity", likening it to a concept that would not be out of place in apartheid-era South Africa. That aside, it is fair to assume Mr Rayner's optimum ethnicity level would see the Asian percentage of the population at somewhere much lower than projected.
