STRICTLY 4 THE ISLANDS: GOING BAND FOR BAND ON IMMIGRATION POLICY

Weekly Pacific Politics with Otis Whinney 

GOING BAND FOR BAND ON IMMIGRATION POLICY

26 votes to 22 have decided the fate of Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Jerimiah Manele. The vote of no-confidence for his leadership finally took place on May 7, the third time the parliament of the Solomons had attempted to push him out in this manner. Former foreign minister Peter Shanel Agovaka—who crossed the bench to help take out Manele—threw out allegations that Manele was facilitating corruption among his ministers, while 1000 police patrolled the capital to prevent unrest that has previously broken out during other political events such as this. Manele didn’t step down quietly, directing comments to the leader of the opposition, Matthew Cooper Wale, arguing he should “be very careful of who you are dealing with and sitting next to.” Considering some of Manele’s own allies switched up on him to remove him from power, maybe the warning should not be taken lightly.

Manele has done his best to balance his country's relationship with China and the West, so his ousting is significant. A diplomatic move to recognise the People's Republic of China over Taiwan in 2021 sparked enough unrest in the streets for Australia to deploy troops and police to the islands, and a 2022 security and defence pact between the Solomons and China raised many eyebrows among the usual suspects. Whether a move towards or away from China is on the cards, or whether the new leadership seeks to maintain the status quo, remains to be seen. A new vote for a replacement is due to take place before this article releases, so we cannot consider this whole debacle over just yet.

Niue is also having some changes in government, but is doing it the normal way by having a general election. Incumbent Dalton Tagelagi managed to retain his position as Prime Minister, but the biggest shock came in the demographic changes. The Fono Ekepule (Niue Parliament) now holds 7 woman MPs out of the possible 20, boosting their representation to 35%. Moments like this are significant, as it shows a shift in how people are perceiving leadership in a region that is still untangling itself from generations of misogyny. We obviously still have a long way to go, and progress on this front will depend heavily on how these new MPs perform in their role, but thanks to these results, the opportunity is there for the taking.

Unfortunately, our leadership in Aotearoa cannot change until November. But time is ticking on the coalition, and every party in government has already begun slinging mud to convince as many voters as possible that all our country’s problems are because of the other guys. One of the key issues right-wing parties across the globe have been bringing to the forefront is immigration. Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Pauline Hanson; the world seems to be assembling the racist Justice League. New Zealand is no stranger to this; immigrants have been used as a political tool since Richard Seddon was bad-mouthing our Chinese community to win over racist miners in the late 19th century. We  had irrational restrictions on immigrants from China in the 1880s, and of course the dawn raids under Robert Muldoon in the 1980s. In the modern day, we have Shane Jones calling Indian immigration a “butter chicken tsunami” while Brian Tamaki radicalises the people of Facebook. In short, this whole debate has been in our midst for a long time, and our good mate David Seymour claims he has the solution.

David Seymour and the ACT party have officially released their new plan to solve New Zealand’s immigration crisis. It's a 6 point platform that includes making it easier to deport migrants who are serious offenders, stronger English language requirements, and a dedicated enforcement unit to deal with overstayers. Now, it's not ridiculous to claim that New Zealand needs to update its stance on immigration. Migrant exploitation and worker shortages in key sectors are just some of the things successive governments have been kicking down the road for the next lot to solve. But ACT’s platform, to me at least, seems more like a series of signals to a certain type of voter in the run up to an election. 

Seymour’s immigration stance has always been interesting. He has, at least recently, presented himself staunchly in favour of immigration and consistently claims that this country was founded by it. When defending these policies to Sean Plunkett on his openly far-right radio show, Seymour still refused to play along with Sean’s more radical outbursts, even saying that “we all, at some point in our family history, have a story of immigration, and in many ways New Zealand, being the last major landmass to be settled by humans, is the country of immigration.” A perfectly reasonable statement, in sharp contrast to Donald Trump claiming Haitians are eating people's dogs during a televised debate. Even as Sean threw out a daft reference to Shane Jones’s butter chicken comment, Seymour declined to engage in that kind of anti-Indian racism.

A similar story played out as Seymour spoke to Duncan Garner, another far-right media personality who parrots those anti-immigration talking points. Even when speaking on a platform that gives him carte blanche to say whatever he wants about anyone, Seymour won’t budge. This is less surprising when you consider the ACT party’s frequent race-baiting over this term in Government towards Māori, pandering to the many who believe Te Tiriti is being abused in favour of Māori over others. Things like the Treaty Principles Bill and his constant references to apartheid pander to this demographic, draping the want to erode Te Tiriti’s legal power in assertions that all New Zealanders should be equal under the law. Seymour and ACT have always been about ‘cutting red tape,’ removing regulations and allowing the private sector to have more freedom in how they operate and make money, regardless of the consequences for things such as the environment, or the people who work in it. Te Tiriti has been a significant roadblock to this for some time. Seymour needs the right to vote for him, so these new immigration proposals seek to activate that crowd, but he’s got to toe a line, lest he break his own argument that all New Zealanders are equal. On the other hand, since when have politicians been consistent?

Unfortunately, it seems like our right-wing parties are entering a sort of anti-immigration arms race to see who can demonise this group most effectively. After ACT released this platform, Winston Peters took to social media to argue it “doesn’t even touch the sides,” and that Seymour needs to “watch this space” for what a real man’s immigration policy looks like. Minister of Immigration, National’s Erica Stanford, has also been showcasing proposed changes to immigration laws, including making it much harder to appeal deportation on humanitarian grounds. The coalition is going band for band on immigration, and the escalating rhetoric will have ripple effects through not just the Pacific community in this country, but to the many other diasporas that call Aotearoa home.

The endless rise of anti-Indian sentiment specifically in this country should worry us all, and as Pacific peoples we should be more aware than most about where this could end up taking us. South Asians have been disproportionately affected by racial abuse and hate crimes in the past few years, with Police hate crime data reporting 4,767 hate incidents involving South Asian victims in this country occurring between January 2022 and October 2025. All it takes is our politicians to continue to  lean into this racism to gain support (as Seddon and Muldoon did before) for this to end up mirroring some of our most shameful moments in history. So let’s hope we can collectively see the forest for the trees when it’s time to tick those boxes in November.