what would be incredibly destructive to NZ’s interests is to continue to stand back & allow an anti-immigration stance to be buried in the cheap & easy charges of racism, so it becomes a no-go area for debate in the future no matter how much we may all suffer for that, or even worse, to pile in on nzfirst along with all the others.

brown highlighted asian immigration instead of others because the asian population is the one projected to grow the most.
here’s the whole press release:

Press Release: New Zealand First Party
2 April 2008

Figures Confirm Immigration Folly

The folly of New Zealand’s “open door� immigration policies is reflected in the latest population projections, says New Zealand First Deputy Leader Peter Brown.

Mr Brown was commenting on Statistics New Zealand’s latest figures that show a rapid increase in the Asian population from 400,000 in 2006 to 790,000 in 2026. In 2026, 16 per cent of the population is projected to be ethnic Asian.

“The rapid rise in the Asian population is driven mainly by immigration and both National and Labour are equally culpable.

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“New Zealand First has warned over a long time that the face of New Zealand is changing without a coherent population policy and without consultation with the people.

“No other country follows blind policies of importing people and exporting jobs like New Zealand and it is time this foolishness was ended for the sake of the people who live here now.�

Mr Brown said he was particularly concerned that the Asian population threatened to eventually outnumber Maori.

“It’s a bit rich when the original inhabitants get shoved further down the pile because successive governments keep throwing the doors open to New Zealand.

“The matter is serious. If we continue this open door policy there is real danger we will be inundated with people who have no intention of integrating into our society. The greater the number, the greater the risk. They will form their own mini-societies to the detriment of integration and that will lead to division, friction and resentment.

“This country deserves better than that,� concluded Mr Brown.

ENDS

these are valid concerns, & if someone like philu had any real arguments against these concerns, he would have responded to my challenge to state them, instead of just giving a vague “he showed that they were wrong”

to be cheap/lying racists..and little else..

(i don’t recall any mention on any debate on the merits of immigration..

where do you get that assumption from..?)

phil(whoar.co.nz)

Andrew, in your 12-10 post where you mention ‘weighing in behind Peters’ for environmental concerns…Peter is playing the race card! The Greens should get the hell away from him there. If they are going to do immigration *generally* it should be on their own terms.

Mind you, is there anywhere in the world where multiculturalism really works?

despite that, you still couldn’t resist playing the “playing the race card” card.

philu, why don’t you just summarize for us here which arguments in favour of immigration john campbell gave which you found so impressive, & then state how you feel it addresses the variious comments in this thread?

So how does increasing the population help?

If imigration causes racial problems, it would more likely be due to imigrants being blamed for the increasing poverty gap.

http://whoar.co.nz/2008/john-campbell-rips-peter-brown-a-new-one/

(it’s a ‘recommended-watch’..eh..?..)

phil(whoar.co.nz)

Mind you, is there anywhere in the world where multiculturalism really works?

New Zealand could use more people….

“New Zealand First has warned over a long time that the face of New Zealand is changing without a coherent population policy and without consultation with the people….

“It’s a bit rich when the original inhabitants get shoved further down the pile because successive governments keep throwing the doors open to New Zealand.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0804/S00056.htm

…Statistics New Zealand’s latest figures… show a rapid increase in the Asian population from 400,000 in 2006 to 790,000 in 2026. In 2026, 16 per cent of the population is projected to be ethnic Asian.

other parties seem inclined to gloat over these figures:

Dunne says that one of the more significant projections is that the Maori population (14.7%) and the Asian population (14.2%) will be almost identical in number, with the likelihood that Asian New Zealanders will in time outnumber Maori.

“Yet, on the basis of our current MMP system, there would be at least 10 Maori seats in Parliament, but no special seats for the New Zealand Asian community….
these figures give further weight to his call that it is timely to reconsider the future of MMP and the Maori seats,

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0804/S00054.htm

& pansy wong:

“National supports an immigration policy that welcomes hard-working immigrants to this country.”

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0804/S00068.htm
wong also stated that asians are “incredibly smart” .. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1680920

i think it very important that this time the greens decline the temptation to take the easy route by playing the “playing the race card” card along with all the others, & actually weigh in behind nzfirst, putting environmental concerns to the forefront.

The similarities are quite clear with the comments made by those that believe overpopulation is a problem, and some of the solutions to the world’s problems are even more in the realms of Star Trek than Geoff’s.

I’m not trying to pick on you Geoff, but you do epitomise the naive belief that technology will fix everything.

Just as an example, if you take a look at the Wikipedia article about the the Montreal Protocol you will find that this “solution” actually created another problem that was not foreseen, but has similar effects to the original problem.

The only thing anyone can really do is to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. I’d say most people would call this atitude pesimistic, but maybe in a few years most people might be more inclined to call it realistic.