MUST READ GUEST BLOG: Gerard Otto – Graham Adams and the omitted facts about Winston
Graham Adams wrote an agenda setting article about how Winston was in an uncomfortable position regarding immigration because he signed the UN Migration Pact and had not fulfilled his election manifesto promise to sharply reduce immigration.
The article set up an agenda for further confusion because it surgically omitted four critical facts in order to make it’s case about the position Winston is now in.
1. The UN Migration Pact was not about increasing mass migration but international multilateral co-operation about ensuring migrants were not murdered or abused by human traffickers. In other words it was about their human rights and their safety. 60,000 people are murdered every year by human trafficking and traffickers get to decide who migrates.
2. The UN Migration Pact aims to mitigate the adverse drivers and structural factors that hinder people from building and maintaining sustainable livelihoods in their countries of origin. So it actually may reduce the number of migrants.
3. The Global Compact reaffirms the sovereign right of States to determine their national migration policy.
4. Election Manifesto promises are no longer articles of accountability in MMP – and the coalition agreement between Labour and NZ First reads “As per Labour’s policy, pursue Labour and New Zealand First’s shared priorities to:
• Ensure work visas issued reflect genuine skills shortages and cut down on low quality international education courses.
• Take serious action on migrant exploitation, particularly of international students.”
All of these facts were not emphasised by Graham Adams who instead commented on the fact that thousands of former NZ First supporters now used the words “Traitor” and “Sellout” and “Judas” about Winston signing the UN Migration Pact and felt deeply betrayed by MMP.
Graham Adams did not mention that Labour’s immigration policies remained unchanged and the estimated total reduction of immigrants within a range of 20,000 to 30,000 … was mostly based on work visa rules for international students and regionalising the occupation list.
Before the 2017 election Labour campaigned on changes that would see a net migration cut by 20,000 to 30,000, largely driven by removing work rights for those enrolled in lower-level qualifications both while studying and after they graduated.
Graham Adams saw fit to omit the fact that NZ law had changed and the removal of employer-assisted post-study work visas at all levels came into effect in November 2018.
That’s not very long ago.
The results will start to show next year.
Omitting the fact that these changes had been made – reinforced the false perception that nothing had been done at all to the “betrayed”.
They still felt a promise was broken after one year in a three year electoral term.
The law change about work visa’s for students alone may reduce immigration by 9,000 to 12,000 per year…and regionalising the occupation list may further reduce it by 5,000 to 8,000 as well as ensure regions get the right skills.
Instead of mentioning any of this – Graham Adams just described the situation that exists because nobody at Stuff, the NZ herald or other MSM media emphasised the critical points…but he sure did not mention how that vacuum of information exists.
How do ignorant voters stay ignorant?
Part of this is a failing to report the facts by media – who instead delight in the drama created by themselves with their endless hype about the situation – rather than what is really happening.
Graham Adams described how most people would agree with the forth coming xenophobic protests against globalisation and immigration by former NZ Rugby chief David Moffett.
“Most people will deplore Moffet’s threatening language but at the same time even moderates who want fewer immigrants and who are frustrated by the Government’s inaction may be quietly and secretly pleased to see its feet held firmly to the fire over the issue.”
Yes – because Graham Adams and other media did not educate anyone about the missing crucial facts nor the progress made and what it really means.
This is how a biased or dysfunctional media fails to serve it’s fourth estate duties to democracy.
Perpetuating and reinforcing ignorance by hiding facts and down playing progress.
Why Graham Adams did not stress the three year electoral context in his article is hard to fathom as well as the implications from MMP concerning manifesto promises and articles of government accountability.
To cap it off Graham Adams delighted in how Simon Bridges will be exploiting this situation in order to get one back on Winston.
The Daily Blog pointed out the sheer hypocrisy of National with it’s record immigration policies – now flip flopping and adding to disinformation about the UN Migration Pact.
None of the “betrayed” can explain how the UN Migration Pact can overturn national sovereign laws on migration.
They can’t show this because it cannot be done.
Instead they whisper ooh you would not have signed it if it was not binding – when in reality it’s really about non-binding international co-operation to save lives, uphold human rights and fight human trafficking.
You cannot convince frightened, ignorant people to read and understand this, they will close their eyes and ears and just fall back on their fears.
But it is dumb and stupid.
Winston is not a traitor – he just respects human rights and had to negotiate a deal that was best for everyone.
He ran the compact past Crown Law – but assurances from the best legal minds don’t wash with the “betrayed”.
They prefer a flimsy suspicion and a conspiratorial intuition.
Graham Adams should do more to describe the reality rather than merely describing the semi racist and fully ignorant thinking of these poor misguided souls.
Keeping the facts hidden by unprincipled media only serves political parties like the National Party – who have no scruples about coming first in the hypocrisy stakes if it wins them power.
Gerard Otto is an activist and writer
Clearly something is wrong when the government don’t seem to be able to stop floodgates of people coming into NZ through all manner of means because the laws or crown lawyers are so weak and can’t even follow through their own decisions and deport people or seem to think that criminal acts are ok here.
The overriding consideration should be the safety, security and financial costs to NZ’ers… and it should be overwhelming benefits to NZ society which should allow immigration, not private benefits to individuals as it currently is working out at the expense of NZ society.
When you get refugees you don’t get to choose, but migration is voluntary. Seems bizarre to me we have such low refugee in take but keen to turn a blind eye to massive migration which has become a huge scam and burden for the taxpayers of NZ with our interest in criminals, non tax payers and people who don’t even live here as new citizens.
The immigration process should take 10 years or so and the person proves themselves as worthy new citizens not just run a scam for 2 -5 years, or make some promises after 11 days, get citizenship and then be a drain on society, leave the country (after buying a tax free house) and drain resources from NZ making our working class even poorer and huge drain on our police and legal system, infrastructure etc at the expense of what we could be doing rehabilitating our NZ born criminals or opportunities for locals.
aka – just a few headlines about the ongoing issues, but still no interest from the government, just more talk about protecting “vulnerable migrants”, who the criminals ones or super wealthy don’t exactly seem vulnerable and more exploitative themselves.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12123831
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1811/S00103/10k-11-days-and-one-failed-deportation.htm
https://money.cnn.com/2017/02/01/technology/peter-thiel-new-zealand-citizenship/index.html
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11794020
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/claims-immigration-nz-could-have-deported-karel-sroubek-years-ago/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/108921008/the-big-scam-our-immigration-system-is-broken
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12005146
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12111595
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/315435/migrants'-parents-cost-nz-'tens-of-millions‘
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12077932
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11905478
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11842563
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/365583/punjabi-singer-gets-home-detention-for-drivers-licences-bribes
I find it also weird that within a few weeks of that Irish traveller family holidaying in NZ who just were rude, spread a bit of rubbish and didn’t pay for a meal somewhere, the police and immigration rush in with deportation papers. And it seems to be such hot news!
Meanwhile when you look at that in relation to the crimes from the links above MSM, and officials never notice or fail to deport so many other people coming and going with new residency or seeking it on pretty loose terms.
AKA, the residents below who somehow get here without every paying taxes or filing a tax return in the 24+ years they use NZ, have residency and are arrested for importing in 40k of crystal Meth (which takes 24 years for police to bust them and immigration and IRD presumably did not care they never put in a tax return)!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11842563
The mind boggles how some travellers can be deported within a few weeks of being here for disorderly conduct they are not even prosecuted for and the public and media and government and immigration and police, turn a blind eye for decades on major migrant criminal activity that has probably dragged countless Kiwis into poverty and turned to crime themselves.
It’s not just bad for Kiwis it is bad for the honest migrants who presumably come here for a better life, not to be back at square one with scum bags from their own countries doing scams and pushing large quantities of drugs like Meth.
Only from The Daily Blog. You’d be hard pressed to find a more well written take down of stupid journalism. You’d never find it anywhere else.
So well written and researched. I’ve been trying to educate people that this compac is NOT about increasing immigration but it falls on deaf ears. It seems Kiwis generally would rather a conspiracy theory than cold hard facts.
Great to see Gerard being published. A shining light amongst most of the other opinion hacks on social media.
Winston & NZF negotiated hard on Immigration however Labour wouldn’t budge as they are concerned about upsetting our Free Trade Agreement which Helen Clarke signed with China.
Evidently Immigration was down 10,000 in the 2018 Year cf to the 2017 Year, so I think Winston and NZF have done a fantastic job. However the problem is Twyford can not build the houses fast enough for the new immigrants, 60,000 per annum divided by 4 people per household equals 15,000 houses required just for new immigrants ?
The membership of political parties has fallen dramatically as a consequence of the ‘median voter theory’. Elections are won or lost by campaigning over the ‘middle ground’, the ‘swinging voter’. So politicians talk over the heads of their memberships using the media to inform the voters. Political parties no longer inform or heed their membership. Manifestos and websites are missing and are unconsciencely uninformative. Only the minimum number of members is required to register their parties. Funding is via ‘large donations’, not membership subscriptions anymore.
It is not surprising then that voters are ‘ignorant and stay ignorant’.
No average Joe or Joanne has time these days to be politically active, therefore parties will tend to be dominated by the political fanatics (who are in turn not representative of the average voter’s interests).
So in most cases parties are probably right not to listen to their membership.
“…in reality [the UN migration pact] is really about non-binding international co-operation to save lives, uphold human rights and fighting human trafficking.”
Then why is National Party so up-in-arms about this?
Because their objections are a load of crap; it’s 100 percent pure, unadulterated propaganda from the National Party that showed itself careless of life, human rights, and for human trafficking during their terrible tenure in Government!
The National Party loves migration when it is illegal and exploitative, when it lines the pockets of their benefactors and paymasters.
In the upside-down world of the National Party the motto is: “slavery good, orderly migration bad!”
Follow my comment and links starting here;
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/01/11/the-funniest-thing-about-national-screaming-about-this-un-migration-pact/
Tucker Carlson recently said;
“Thinking people know truth when they see it. They can smell it.!!”
Cheers.
Housing prices have slowed up a bit and foreign speculators are no longer allowed to buy New Zealand Real Estate.
I think Winston and Jacinda are doing a great job under very difficult circumstances the mess Hone Shone Key & Billy Blinglish left New Zealand in b4 they resigned to spend more time with the families.