Fuming Asians tackle Dalziel

By CATHERINE MASTERS

Government policy has been affected by an anti-Asian atmosphere which has developed in New Zealand over the past year, says an open letter to the Prime Minister and Parliament from the Asian community.

"This is a dangerous tendency and if we let it grow uncontrolled it can bring irreversible damages to the social stability, racial harmony, economic development and international reputation of this country," the letter says.

It was read out in English and Chinese in Auckland yesterday as politicians - including Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel - faced a conference room packed with Asian immigrants angry at the sudden toughening of the English test which must be passed to gain entry into New Zealand.

The meeting was convened by a group calling itself the Association of Asian Equality Rights on the same day the Association of Migration and Investment announced the Government may face court action over the retrospective nature of tough new immigration rules.

Representatives from all the political parties addressed the conference at the Carlton Hotel in Auckland - with one exception. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters was not invited, although his name was mentioned more than once.

Apart from Labour and the Progressive Coalition, everyone blamed last month's sudden changes as a knee-jerk reaction by the Government to Mr Peters' anti-immigration campaign during and after the election.

Ms Dalziel denied this, saying that in April the Cabinet had directed her to undertake further work on the English test and in May she had a paper prepared that recommended an immediate lift in the English standard higher even than the recent change.

The politicians all made impassioned speeches which were then translated and although they had all been allocated times to stick to - ranging from Ms Dalziel at 15 minutes to Don Brash at seven minutes and Pansy Wong at three - none of them listened to the bell at the end of their time slot. It could have been an election campaign.

Ms Dalziel explained why she believed migrants must have good English.

She had spoken to a PhD-level agricultural scientist from Russia, a pharmacist from Korea and an IT specialist from India, she said, and asked the audience how they would feel in these people's shoes having to drive a taxi for a living.

"It is wrong to have people in our country who cannot get work in their fields of professional expertise."

She said Mr Peters had become utterly obsessed about immigration.

"His contribution is ill-informed, unreasoned and unbalanced."

She also denounced as pathetic a petition by Act, placed on all the seats at the conference, against the "racist" immigration tests.

The petition states that the new English test requires university-level English for a pass but Ms Dalziel said this was not true.

Mr Brash, the National Party's finance spokesman, won thunderous applause from the audience for saying that many of the most successful immigrants to New Zealand had arrived without speaking English.

Mrs Wong, National's ethnic affairs spokeswoman, said if the test had been in place when she came to New Zealand she would not be in the country today.

"My parents would never pass the test, 95 per cent of the successful Chinese community leaders would never be here because they would never pass the test."

Act leader Richard Prebble said the tests were just too tough. He said the 6.5 level was the level required to enter university - to which Ms Dalziel called out, "Stop lying."

He called for a parliamentary select committee to hold an inquiry into the changes.

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Herald feature: Immigration