KEY POINTS:
New Zealand First has suggested the door should be shut on Asian immigrants.
Deputy leader Peter Brown said yesterday that there was a danger Asian "mini-societies" were being built in New Zealand.
Statistics New Zealand said yesterday New Zealand's Asian population was expected to grow faster than any
other.
Government statistician Geoff Bascand said the four main ethnic populations - Maori, Pacific, Asian and European - would all increase but those who identify themselves as Asian would grow the most.
A projected increase of 3.4 per cent a year would take the Asian population from 400,000 in 2006 to 790,000 by 2026.
Mr Brown said the folly of New Zealand's "open-door" immigration policies was reflected in the latest population projections.
"The matter is serious. If we continue this open-door policy there is real danger we will be inundated with people who have no intention of integrating into our society. The greater the number, the greater the risk.
"They will form their own mini-societies to the detriment of integration and that will lead to division, friction and resentment."
Mr Brown said the "rapid rise" in the Asian population was driven mainly by immigration and both Labour and National were culpable.
"No other country follows blind policies of importing people and exporting jobs like New Zealand and it is time this foolishness was ended for the sake of the people who live here now."
He said he was particularly concerned the Asian population threatened to eventually outnumber Maori.
"It's a bit rich when the original inhabitants get shoved further down the pile because successive governments keep throwing the doors open to New Zealand."
Mr Bascand said yesterday that Maori numbers were expected to grow by 1.4 per cent a year for 20 years, taking the total Maori population to 820,000 by 2026.
The European population was projected to grow by 0.3 per cent a year from 3.21 million to 3.43 million in the same time period.
The Pacific population would grow by 2.4 per cent to reach 480,000.
Sixteen per cent of the total population was expected to identify with Asian ethnicity by 2026.
United Future leader Peter Dunne said the population projections would impact on MMP.
The Maori and Asian populations would be almost identical in number.
"Yet on the basis of our current MMP system, there would be at least 10 Maori seats in Parliament but no special seats for the New Zealand Asian community."
Assuming there was no change in the overall number of seats in Parliament, it would also mean there would be about 97 general seats and just 12 or 13 list seats, "thus further distorting the proportionality of MMP".
Mr Dunne said it was time to reconsider the future of MMP and the Maori seats.
- NZPA
