From Tsunami of butter chicken to ICE ICE BABY: ACT out-redneck Winston on Immigration by proposing NZ ICE

ACT’s latest immigration crackdown proposal isn’t just policy — it’s a political escalation in the race to outflank NZ First on culture war territory.

ACT have been wallowing in the Polls as Winston’s brand of redneckery in a political cultural environment dominated by highly polarised social media hate algorithms eclipses the free market mantra of ACT.

The painful reality for ACT is that the reactionary electorate they are targeting like their bigotry full bodied and view Libertarian fig-leaves as a bit too wanky and high brow for their gumboot fascism.

They love Winston’s cross burning bigotry and all his conspiracy theories over pointy-headed red tape wonks.

So ACT have got to respond by trying to out-redneck Winston on Immigration by proposing NZ ICE to force immigrants out:

ACT’s NZ ICE proposal and the politics behind it

ACT’s plan to toughen immigration rules

The six-point plan includes;

• Deporting serious offenders, “no matter how long they’ve been here”
• Expire categories under Accredited Employer Work visas every year
• Introduce a five-year welfare stand-down for all residence class visa holders
• Introduce a $6 per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas, on top of existing charges
• Extend basic English language requirements to all work visa types
• Establish a dedicated overstayer enforcement unit within Immigration New Zealand.

Seymour says this…

“Success requires a common set of expectations; respect our freedoms, uphold our democratic values, contribute to infrastructure, speak English, obey the law, and fill genuine gaps in the economy,”

…but you will note there is no actual instrument in any of what he has suggested that would allow the testing of the respect for these values is there?

“You must respect our freedoms and uphold our democratic values”, Jesus wept, that’s a higher standard than most people living in Epsom would manage! How exactly will one be testing this loyalty pledge of David’s?

Look, Seymour is absolutely right, mass immigration policies have been used aggressively in NZ without the investment into the  infrastructure that can cope with those jumps.

It’s an insane mismanagement of resources and it causes cultural friction that is easy to attract xenophobic anxiety and resentment from.

Let’s be very clear here – there are excellent solutions and better ways for us to experience migration because I welcome anyone who wants to make this amazing country home in the honest belief that the gifts of the Māori culture and an egalitarian heritage built upon Anglo-Saxon Western Democratic Values are so good, that anyone calling NZ Aotearoa home will agree with us and our values.

The intrinsic value of the Individual, Freedom of Speech and the Fourth Estate, no taxation without representation, a system of laws, an independent judiciary and separation of powers;  these are all great things that create a quality of life that when interwoven with Māori communalism and Manaakitanga binds communities together.

There is a gravity to our values that makes the argument for working together instead of against each other here on these shaky lonely Isles that doesn’t require an inquisition from David Seymour to start seizing immigrants off the street for a values test on western values.

Immigration, economic anxiety, and the culture war trap

Domestic workers have every right to view free trade deals with skepticism because the much vaunted wealth creation rarely ever makes its way to the actual workers. Their sacrifice for that profit is their job as they get sacked for efficiencies and budget cost cutting to maximise share holders returns.

Domestic workers see the market distortion when the immigration floodgates are lifted to gain a lazy GDP hit as the global economy sinks thanks to Trump and Israel.

The fight for jobs and public service use and the gridlock and competition for rentals; domestic workers feel that pinch and have those economic anxieties seduced by demagogues who always blame the other as a source of fear and victimhood rather than the free market rigged capitalism that is distracting us with Identity Politics rather than class realisation.

Those demagogues preach a political rhetoric that borders on sado-masochism. For the Right, their satisfaction comes not from an improvement in the quality life, but by making others lives worse.

It’s an ugly politics swamp and one which the Right love to fish in because in the glow of a burning cross you forget all the corporate welfare and deregulation for donors happening in the background.

The game of blaming the other to distract from what we really need to do as solutions demands a response.

You eliminate the fears of domestic workers by ensuring universal union membership for every migrant worker so that they aren’t exploited and they aren’t working for less than domestic workers. That way the domestic worker can see a migrant worker and know they aren’t undermining the economic position of the domestic worker, while stomping out the terrible level of migrant worker exploitation.

You ensure better funding by investing in the people and public infrastructure and housing resilience and 100% electricity energy plan alongside TAXING THE RICH!

The Oligarchy in NZ who ensures their interests are met can only get away with that the longer we remain divided and hopeless.

There are better solutions and better ways to improve the collective good from the poly-crisis that we face now.

Garden variety blame the immigrants game reeks of political desperation by ACT in their latest marketing campaign to out-redneck NZ First.