Anger Over Rising NZealand Immigration

New Zealand’s Asian population is growing faster than any other ethnic group and will outnumber indigenous Maori by 2026, government figures released Wednesday showed.

The chief executive of the country’s Employers and Manufacturers Association, Alasdair Thompson, said Brown’s comments were “racial stereotyping of the worst sort.” [Peter Brown’s comments are reported in the story below. —Editor AR News]

“We need our newer migrants. We don’t need Mr. Brown’s racism,” he said.

United Asian Association spokesman Ken Yee welcomed the figures, saying the projected rise in Asian numbers would mean “more color and cultural diversity” that would only be a good thing, National Radio reported.

{snip}

According to government statistics, the nation’s four main ethnic populations of Maori, Pacific Islanders, Asian and ethnic European peoples will all increase in the next 18 years, with those identifying as Asian set to grow the most.

A projected increase of the Asian population by 3.4 percent a year, mainly by migration, over the period to 2026 would see the Asian population double from 400,000 in 2006 to 790,000 by 2026, according to government statistician Geoff Bascand.

Some 16 percent of New Zealand’s total population was expected to identify with Asian ethnicity by 2026, Bascand said. By then, New Zealand’s overall population was projected to be 5.5 million from the current 4.2 million.

New Zealand should shut its door on Asian immigrants to prevent the country from being inundated with people who will not integrate well into society, a leader of an anti-immigrant party said Wednesday.

The comments by New Zealand First deputy leader Peter Brown followed the release of figures showing that the country’s Asian population is likely to grow 3.4 percent a year through 2026—faster than any other ethnic group.

{snip}

New Zealand’s overall population is projected to rise to 5.5 million from the current 4.2 million over the next 18 years.

Some 14 percent of the total population is expected to claim Asian ethnicity in 2026, with their numbers nearly doubling from 400,000 in 2006 to 790,000, government statistician Geoff Bascand said.

All the nation’s main ethnic groups, including Maori, Pacific Islanders and ethnic Europeans, will grow in the next two decades, Bascand said. But those with Asian links are likely to grow the fastest, he said, surpassing the total number of Maori.

{snip}

“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,” he said. “There is real danger we will be inundated with people who have no intention of integrating into our society.”

{snip}