Productivity Commission Chairman Ganesh Nana argues that New Zealand needs a major reset of immigration policy
New Zealand ought to move from an "ad hoc" immigration policy disconnected from other public policy settings to a long-term government policy statement to assist with infrastructure and other planning, Productivity Commission Chairman Ganesh Nana says.
Speaking in the latest episode of interest.co.nz's Of Interest Podcast, Nana says the government's formal response to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into NZ's long-term immigration settings is expected before Christmas. Among other things the inquiry, completed earlier this year, recommends a government policy statement requiring governments to set a clear strategic direction for immigration policy.
Nana notes the level of immigration influences the overall population, the requirement for infrastructure including transport networks, hospitals, schools, energy requirements, early childhood needs, and regional development. At the moment there's a "disconnect" between immigration settings and these other areas, and a disconnect between workforce training and skills development and labour market policy, Nana argues.
He also wants to see a longer-term focus for immigration rather than the "ad hoc adjustments" currently made every few months or years. This ought to have a timeframe of at least 10-years.
In the podcast he talks about these issues in detail, plus how often the government policy statement could be revised, the idea of holding a referendum on the population size we want, the recent slowdown in population growth and decline in areas such as Auckland and Wellington, the impact on natural resources and land use, why the population size isn't the answer to productivity or wellbeing, what he'd like to hear during election year, what the Treaty of Waitangi means to immigration, and more.
"Migration is always going to be part of our population story," Nana says.
"The world is going to be a lot different and if we continue to plan on the past we will be disappointed. I think we've got an opportunity to set our own path, and our own trajectory in terms of population, in terms of migration and population growth. Let's do that openly and explicitly rather than stumble into the rather large population growth we had pre-Covid."