{"id":411546,"date":"2026-05-04T16:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/411546\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:59:13","slug":"act-immigration-policy-erica-stanford-says-david-seymour-hasnt-thought-through-policy-she-says-will-hurt-businesses-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/411546\/","title":{"rendered":"Act immigration policy: Erica Stanford says David Seymour hasn\u2019t thought through policy she says will hurt businesses, farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"

She said it \u201ccertainly feels like\u201d Act was trying to match the anti-immigration<\/a> policies of New Zealand First<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ActAct leader David Seymour. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

Stanford said Act\u2019s proposals, including tightening up the definition of \u201cskilled migrant\u201d and introducing a charge of $6 a day for temporary work visas, paid before migrants arrive, were an \u201cattack on small businesses\u201d and an \u201cattack on the rural sector\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain regions in New Zealand where there is low unemployment or there are Kiwis who are simply not willing to do some of those jobs, be it in agriculture or aged care,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rely on migrant workers, businesses rely on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanford said Act\u2019s proposed $6 daily charge was \u201cnot reasonable or proportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are a dairy farm worker, a herd manager for example [on a] five-year visa, that\u2019s an $11,000 upfront cost that a migrant will have to pay on top of their visa fee on top of their health check screening, and all those other costs,\u201d Stanford said.<\/p>\n

Stanford said migrants would probably not be able to pay this upfront cost, which would then fall to the employer.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Seymour told the Herald: \u201cWe support Erica in her work as Immigration Minister. In many ways, she is doing a good job and our policy is not meant as a criticism of her efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, results speak for themselves. People are disillusioned with immigration policy and they don\u2019t believe that it is delivering in practice what it promises in theory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who worry about immigration policy are right to worry. We don\u2019t have enough enforcement, infrastructure pressure is real and the Kiwi character is under threat from a minority of immigrants who undermine the values previous generations have built up.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than belittling Act or writing off genuine voter concerns, Erica ought to engage constructively and heed those concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true that nobody wants to pay for infrastructure if they can help it, but somebody has to. Immigration widens the base of infrastructure we require, it is not fair for the whole country to pay for that growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re open to feedback that infrastructure pressure is strongest in urban centres, and the levy should not apply or be reduced in rural areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanford said that the Government was looking at immigration changes, which Seymour was aware of because he had been consulted on the changes.<\/p>\n

NZ First leader Winston Peters took to social media to note, with sarcasm, that Act\u2019s pivot to a more hawkish stance on migration came after the signing of a free trade agreement with India, which created a new visa class for Indian migrants.<\/p>\n

Peters said Act\u2019s policy was a \u201cgood effort\u201d but it \u201cdoesn\u2019t even touch the sides\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would encourage Act to watch this space for when NZ First will be announcing what a real and comprehensive immigration policy actually looks like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said it \u201ccertainly feels like\u201d Act was trying to match the anti-immigration policies of New Zealand First.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4619,23503,211693,10166,7230,6284,5031,12967,25901,14046,917,1743,6722,111,43,139,69,5502,7254,312,16797,20863,5032,20110,210,1533],"class_list":["post-411546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-act","tag-acts","tag-broadside","tag-businesses","tag-coalition","tag-david","tag-erica","tag-farmers","tag-hasnt","tag-hurt","tag-immigration","tag-launched","tag-minister","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-partner","tag-policy","tag-says","tag-seymour","tag-she","tag-stanford","tag-thought","tag-through","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}