KEY POINTS:
Fourteen-year-old Karamjit Singh lives in the same Tauranga street as New Zealand First MP Peter Brown.
But that's about all he has in common with his neighbour.
The Otumoetai College student said he felt "put down" by Mr Brown's comments this week about curbing Asian immigration.
He said
Mr Brown's belief that Asians were forming "mini-societies" and had no intention of integrating into New Zealand life was not true.
"We have European friends," he said. "We don't sit with Indian friends [at school]. To learn English, we have to have English friends."
Mr Brown has been labelled a racist for his views and the Weekend Herald yesterday visited Levers Rd, where he owns a tidy, middle-class house, to gauge the opinion of his neighbours.
Most were not at home, but several elderly people in the leafy street agreed with Mr Brown.
However, Karamjit and his 19-year-old sister, Gurpreet Kaur, whose family own the local Matua dairy, said they were offended.
"It's against the law to be racist, so he should be sued," Gurpreet said.
She said many Asians in New Zealand had a higher standard of living than other cultures, working hard to buy houses and be self-sufficient.
"We don't run to MPs when we need food," she said. "We work. Asians who come here work."
She said Asians did jobs other New Zealanders would not do, including her father, who worked as a kiwifruit picker.
"The kiwifruit owners are a success today because of Asians."
Her Sikh family had come to New Zealand from India 10 years ago and, if anything, immigration policies were already too tough, she said.
The family had had trouble getting visas for relatives to visit and for a cook to work in a restaurant they owned in central Tauranga.
The siblings' mother, Satinder Kaur, was also appalled at Mr Brown's comments.
"People from other countries should be able to come here," said the 40-year-old, who spoke through Karamjit. "We pay to come here. We don't come here for free."
Mrs Kaur and her husband had come to New Zealand for a better life for their three children.
"She wants her kids to get a good education, good jobs," Karamjit said.
He said Mr Brown's comments made no sense because New Zealand had a small population and needed immigrants.
He and his family lived law-abiding lives - "we don't cause trouble at night and get drunk."
But some of Mr Brown's closer neighbours believed the MP was right to question the Government's policies on Asian immigration.
Statistics New Zealand said this week that the country's Asian population was likely to grow faster than any other group, from 400,000 in 2006, to 790,000 by 2026.
Taxi driver Royce Morgan, who lives across the road from Mr Brown, said Asian immigrants, particularly Indians, did not integrate well.
"Asian-Indians don't really want to make any effort to be part of New Zealand [whereas] South Africans are very adaptable."
Others felt that Asian immigrants were threatening the living standards of other New Zealanders.
"I don't want a whole country of Asians," said a 61-year-old woman, who declined to be named.
"I'm all for people who are struggling coming in, refugees and such, but Asians have a lot of money and have been buying up prime property."
Them and us - what NZ First has been telling voters about immigration
New Zealand First has campaigned strongly on immigration for more than a decade and has been accused of "playing the race card" every election year. Here is what Winston Peters and his party have said in election years:
February 1996. Winston Peters v Asians.
In a speech in Howick, Mr Peters criticised the Government's immigration policy as something which "sees rows of ostentatious houses in this very suburb, occupied in some cases by children whose parents have no ties in this country other than the price they paid for the house and who prefer to remain outside its shores".
The obvious reference to Asians drew flak from critics, but Mr Peters enjoyed a boost in the polls.
February 1999. Winston Peters v immigrants.
Mr Peters blamed immigrants for infrastructure problems in Auckland, citing traffic congestion, increased pressure on power and water resources, pollution, shellfish pillage and threatened recreational areas.
His comments were attacked as xenophobic by political rivals, and National MP Pansy Wong said the Asian community's scars were still "raw and painful" from the 1996 New Zealand First attacks.
Mr Peters responded by calling Mrs Wong "an out-of-Shanghai, Hong Kong-born member of the New Zealand Parliament, as though she speaks for all Asians".
2002. Winston Peters v Asians.
Mr Peters described immigration as "a time bomb with a slow burning fuse", and blamed Asian migrants for petrol tax increases and growing hospital waiting lists.
He said he wanted immigration levels cut and said it should be the top election issue.
"The unpalatable fact is that the consequence of ever-larger numbers of unassimilated people in New Zealand will be heightened tension and social conflict," he said.
After being criticised as anti-Asian, Mr Peters mounts a surprise defence - pointing out he has some Chinese blood.
Deputy leader Peter Brown says Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech - which warned of the effects of immigration and which sparked race riots in Britain in the 1960s - was right.
May and July 2005. Winston Peters v Asians and Muslims.
Mr Peters pondered the changing face of Auckland in a speech, saying "we have now reached the point where you can wander down Queen Street in Auckland and wonder if you are still in New Zealand or some other country".
Later that year he took aim at immigrants from another part of the world. Speaking about the Muslim community in New Zealand, he said there was a "militant underbelly".
April 2008. Peter Brown v Asians.
Deputy leader Peter Brown spoke out about projections showing the Asian population will reach 790,000 by 2026.
He warned that people would form into "mini-societies" and said there was a danger New Zealand would be "inundated with people who have no intention of integrating into our society".
