Mr Muldoon: Deport misfits

Press, Issue 33846, 19 May 1975, Page 2

Mr Muldoon: Deport misfits

i <N Z Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 18. A probationary period for all new immigrants, during which any indications of inability to tit i into the New Zealand way of life would result in deportation, has been advocated by the Leader • of the Opposition (Mr ' Muldoon). His suggestion, made at the ‘ Auckland regional conference ' of the National Party, has been described by the presi-.-dent of the Federation of; ;. Labour (Mr T. E. Skinner) as’ ■' absurd and unworkable. .! He was not talking about) ; only Pacific Islanders. Mr Muldoon told the conference.! "This is not a racist policy! i —it’s an immigration policy,”! ’[he said. The probationary period: jI would have to be completed] (before New Zealand citizen-j . ship would be considered. J “We must have a low rate; .’of immigration in the next i few years, and I mean a very • low rate.” ; He cited problems in housing, in law and order, and' • language—the last two “fre-l i quently talked about” in re-, lation to Pacific Island immi-

grants—as being attributable to immigration policies. TRADE UNIONISM “Let’s not overlook the danger to this country of recent immigration from further away,’’ he said. People had been bringing to New Zealand the “class-warfare approach” to trade unionism. “They are just as unwelcome as immigrants who get into other kinds of trouble. What I am saying today will be distorted, misunderstood, and misreported ! by stirrers. “We are going to have a constructive immigration policy, and it will be aimed at producing harmony, regard- , less of people’s origin. And . we will not permit people to ] bring bad ideas into this New ■ Zealand of ours.” What he was saying was not policy, but a preview of what the National Party had : m mind on the immigration (issue, and one which it (would not flinch from solvling, he said. A National Government would also speak to leaders lof the two Pacific Islands ■ countries where many of New ■ Zealand’s new Polynesian immigrants came from—Niue and the Cook Islands—to ask ; them to limit the outflow of I people. “We cannot stand by and see those countries run down ito the extent that they have I only the young, the old, and the unskilled left.”

As a counterpart policy to the new immigration system, Mr Muldoon proposed an extension of the Ombudsman structure to embrace the office of the Race Relations Commissioner, a sexdiscrimination provision, and machinery to deal with allegations of malpractice by trade unions or employers. Mr Skinner said tonight that New Zealand could not set itself up as the only country where immigrants had to go through a trial period before being allowed to stay. “We would find ourselves isolated from the rest of the world,” he said.

“Anyway it just would not work. How on earth are you going to decide whether immigrants measure up? If it is on the basis of whether they agree with Rob Muldoon there will not be many left.

“Who is going to pay the cost of sending any rejects packing for home? And what would you do about any really bad characters who behaved themselves until the trial period was over and then ran amuck?” “ORDINARY PEOPLE”

Immigrants certainly were not all troublemakers, but ordinary people, a mixture of good and bad, like people all over the world, said Mr Skinner.

The reference to using a new immigration policy to get rid of union troublemakers was absurd.

“The vast majority of union officials were born in this country, and the few that were bom overseas can certainly not be classified as troublemakers.

“This country has the most peaceful industrial scene in the world,” he said.