Viewpoint – Labour shortages

Immigration is one of the topics that I am asked about most in my role as local MP, both in terms of constituents understanding policy and getting help with individual cases. It’s an important subject for two fundamental reasons – firstly, it culturally and socially enriches our country; and secondly, it enables the lights to be kept on.

One example (of many) that I have continued to witness in my role as local MP is the ongoing worker shortages within aged care. This issue was highlighted when I recently met with some constituents who own aged care facilities. When I spoke with the owners, they shared stories about how short of staff they are, to the point that both they and their managers have been faced with no other choice but to carry out the shifts themselves.

If you are in the business of looking after the welfare of people, then you can’t take short cuts. Our country simply cannot provide the care our people need if there aren’t enough workers to go around. Sadly, these are the kind of stories I’m continuing to hear on the ground and across the board, based on my conversations with local people, local businesses and
community organisations.

Despite the government’s promise to deliver 20,000 critical workers to fill shortages, our net migration remains negative. Another issue compounding this problem is that more Kiwis are leaving the country than arriving back. To add further pain, worker shortages are fuelling higher inflation but the worst part is that it is costing New Zealanders their lives. Despite our labour shortages being the worst they have been in 50 years, our current immigration settings continue to be hugely disadvantaging to New Zealand’s ability to attract workers we need.

Immigration plays an important role in mitigating the labour crisis that New Zealand currently finds itself in. All policy makers need to think about how to improve immigration settings so that the country can get on with delivering the services that Kiwis desperately need and ensure lives are saved.

At the same time, of course, we need to ensure that infrastructure is provided to keep up with the size of the population. That’s already a shortcoming on our current numbers. We should not have to choose between these things, as a country and as a community. Watch this space!