Minister for Women Jan Tinetti 'very happy' with immigration reset, despite accusations it's 'sexist'

The Minister for Women is "very comfortable" and "happy" with the newly-announced immigration reset, despite accusations from organisations that it is "absolutely sexist" and a form of gender-based discrimination.

Last week, the Government announced that immigration settings were changing amidst a plan to reopen and reconnect New Zealand with the rest of the world.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said during the announcement that part of this reset will be a new 'Green List', which he hoped will "incentivise and attract high-skilled migrants to New Zealand, by providing a new streamlined pathway to residency for those globally hard-to-fill roles". 

It creates two pathways for residence while the current Skilled Migrant Category is under review. There will be a number of requirements around the roles. 

For roles on a "Fast Trackers 'Straight to Residence' pathway"  - including project builders, civil engineers, psychiatrists, and vets - migrants in those occupations can come to New Zealand on a work visa from July 4 and then apply for residency in September. From September, residency can also be applied for directly from offshore. 

Other occupations on a "Work to Residence pathway" will be able to apply for residency after two years. These include audiologists, midwives, some teachers, and registered plumbers.

But it was this difference between the two pathways and women-dominated roles being left off the straight to residence pathway that had some organisations up in arms. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation said they "didn't understand it", Plunket wondered if it was a "mistake", and Family Planning labelled it "very disappointing".

However, Minister for Women Jan Tinetti is standing by the immigration reset and said on Tuesday she is comfortable with it.

"There's been a lot of work that's been done on it, the Ministry for Women have given policy advice around that, so very comfortable."

She said that conversations around how male-dominated specialties are included in the first tier are ongoing.

"We've got to make certain that we're looking at those nurses as a whole as well, because we're talking about nurses in aged care, we're talking about nurses in the hospital system," Tinetti said.

"Those are conversations that I am having [that are] ongoing with the Minister of Immigration."

Tinetti added that there's also been discussions about women-dominated industries and the different parts of the workforce.

Jan Tinetti.
Jan Tinetti. Photo credit: Newshub.

She also said that she will soon announce a women's employment action plan, which will look at women-dominated industries.

"I'm very happy with the immigration reset," Tinetti added.

"I think it sends a clear message that we are looking at valuing the workforce, as far as how much they're being paid. That is, first and foremost, really important, then we've got more work to do."

Faafoi also defended the reset and said the Green List was constructed around skills shortages New Zealand currently has.

When asked if a gender lens was cast over the immigration reset, he said instead a "need of skills lens" was used.

"[Nurses] still have a pathway to residency via the two-year path. We think we've got the balance right. We also reiterate that that is going to be reviewed in 12 months to make sure that if there are issues that emerge between now and that review, we can deal with them," he said on Tuesday.

"We have given a two-year pathway for those nurses to stay within the occupation. There might be some competition between employers in those sectors to retain those nurses, but we think that's a healthy thing.

We've said, essentially, that we want the nurses to come here, work in nursing because that's the skill shortage we currently have, and after two years of that commitment to their employer and to the country given the shortage, they will have an almost guaranteed pathway to residence."

Faafoi said there were concerns from employers about nurses staying in their roles. If they were on the straight to residency path, there were worries that offshore nurses who arrived here would move to other roles faster than domestically-trained nurses.

"That's the balance that we've got, to make sure that we can offer a pathway to residence as a Government. Then it's also part of the responsibility of the employers to make sure that the working conditions such as pay, health and safety, and other conditions are attractive as well."

Kris Faafoi.
Kris Faafoi. Photo credit: Newshub.

The Green List replaces the existing skills shortages list. Any roles that appear on the skills shortages list but not the Green List won't be exempt from a labour market test unless they are paid double the median wage. 

"Our rebalanced immigration system will be simpler, reducing categories, bringing more online accessibility and streamlining application processes for businesses," Faafoi said during last week's announcement. 

"Through the Accredited Employer Work Visa, employers won’t need to provide as much information, can use their own recruitment processes to prove no New Zealanders are available for work, and Immigration New Zealand will endeavour to have these visas processed within 30 days once an employer is accredited."

About 20,000 visa holders with visas expiring before 2023 are also being granted a six-month extension or a new two-year visa with open work conditions, Faafoi announced. This is so they and their employers aren't affected by the upcoming changes.