RNZ Wellington, December 10, 2018
Simon Bridges (INL Photo)
The National Party says that the government should not support a United Nations Migration Pact due to be signed in Morocco this week.
At press time, UN-Member States were due to meet in Marrakesh in Morocco to formally approve the non-binding pact, which aims to increase global cooperation over migration issues.
National Party Leader Simon Bridges said that New Zealand should not sign the Pact because we already have “good, if not excellent” Immigration Policy.
No purpose
Mr Bridges questioned the point in signing up to the pact if it were truly non-binding.
“It is creating a situation where we know even if it is not binding, over time it will become part of our laws, it will become interpreted by the judiciary. We don’t need to do that. What part of our settings is wrong in immigration and why would we cede this?”
Support waning
US President Donald Trump pulled his support for the pact a year ago, and in recent months other nations have followed including the governments of Australia, Austria, Israel and Switzerland.
“Australia, the US, many EU countries… These are great, traditional friends of ours… I do this for our own reasons.,” he said.
New Zealand is sending UN representative Craig Hawke to Morocco for the signing.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his job would be to communicate New Zealand’s position, get clarity on the contentious points and work out whether there was an appetite for change if it happened to conflict with the country’s interests.
-Under Special Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz
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Photo Caption:
Simon Bridges (INL Photo)
