Did we say $75 Million???
Silly us, we meant $90.5 million.
There is no explanation as to why there is a difference.
Although I have to be honest – no matter whether this is scope creep or just a more honest number, it is probably money well worth spending. They cannot continue as they are with an antiquated system. But I doubt the increase in budget will actually end at 90.5 million.
Datacom wins the contract for the new INZ IT system
So, INZ is going to get a sparkling new IT system, which it desperately needs to replace the steam powered and carrier pigeon system it currently uses. It’s going to cost $75 million.
Datacom have won the contract to put the system in.
Which is really good – Datacom is a New Zealand owned company – whereas these contracts often go to the multinationals.
Government information technology projects the size of IGMS have usually been awarded to United States multinationals. IBM won a similar-sized deal to renovate Customs’ Cusmod computer system in June.
However, a decade of consistent, strong growth has put Datacom in contention for larger projects. The privately owned firm upped its revenues to a record $725 million last year. About half its 3800-plus staff are based in New Zealand. It also has sizeable operations in Australia and Asia.
The Wairarapa is getting popular with big names
Filed under: Life in New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
It turns out that James Cameron has bought two large plots of land near lake Wairarapa, after getting consent through the Overseas Investment Office.
I have to admit to finding that a little bit exciting.
Apparently according to the article, he and his family are going to be living permanently in New Zealand after setting it up as a farm.
”James F Cameron and his family intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm,”
I do kinda hope that doesn’t mean he’s going to give up making movies, though personally I don’t really want to see Avatar 2&3 in yet more 3D. Peter Jackson also has his main pile in the Wairarapa – near Masterton.
There are a couple of issues here – that I am sure we won’t get any answers to but here goes anyway:
1/ There’s a loud (very loud) hoo hah going on in New Zealand at the moment because a Chinese company is buying up the Crafar Farms (had to be sold as they went into receivership). It seems James Cameron alone is buying about 15% of the amount of farm land involved in that deal, and so far not a whimper about “selling New Zealand to foreigners”.
Personally I don’t think its a big deal either way – but I do dislike the hypocrisy when people scream at selling land to the Chinese, but couldn’t care less when selling it to non-Asians.
2/ Of personal interest – what are the Immigration issues – you cant just buy a farm and have the right to live in New Zealand indefinitely. It doesn’t work like that. People buying farms generally do so under a business visa, and you have to have experience in that business. Is this another investor category?
Its important because the Overseas Investment Office is nothing to do with immigration – so its a whole other ball game.
Either way, I wish them the best of luck and a warm welcome to the Wairarapa. It is a wonderful place, and I for one don’t blame anyone for wanting to live there.
Was John Banks licenced to give immigration advice to Kim “Dotcom” Shmitz?
A little gem amongst all the stuff written about Kim Shmitz (I just cant bring myself to use his ludicrous fake name), is an article about the Ex Mayor of Auckland, John Banks. Now, John Banks is currently an MP for the ACT party, famous for having a cup of tea with the PM, and being the Ex Mayor of Auckland.
While still the mayor, it seems that Mr MegaUpload paid for $500,000 worth of fireworks for the City of Auckland, and John Banks met him regarding this.
The interesting thing is a quote from Mr Banks:
“To the best of my knowledge I gave him some advice about applying for residency.
Which is illegal under the Immigration Advisers Licencing Act, unless you are exempt, or a licenced adviser.
As an MP, Mr Banks is currently exempt from needing to be licenced.
As the Mayor of Auckland, he was not.
Of course, the IAA cannot and will not do anything about it unless someone makes a formal complaint to them. Which really hacks me off.
On a similar point, New Zealand First and Labour are hassling the government on “who knew what” about how this guy got through immigration with a criminal past. Labour is conveniently forgetting that they were in charge when Michael Barrymore was let into New Zealand, and neither is asking questions about the medical issue and whether Immigration sent his medical tests to the Medical Assessors.
Which shows a marked lack of knowledge about the Immigration Process.
INZ incompetance or just plain old bribery?
This weekend the papers all over the world are full of the news that the bosses of MegaUpload have been arrested in New Zealand. MegaUpload is apparently a hub for filesharing pirated tv/movies. Which clearly is highly illegal and should be stomped on forthwith.
Kim “Dotcom” (what a bloody pretentious name), was arrested. He’s German, but has New Zealand Residency.
Now most of the news is about his nefarious dealing in the world of illegal Internet downloads, and his mega luxury lifestyle.
What I want to concentrate on is the Immigration side of this.
Because Kim “I need a silly name” Shmitz, was refused a residency visa on the grounds that he failed the good character test. Now the information in the news is a bit sketchy on this point, but quoting directly from the Dom Post At the weekend:
“his New Zealand residency initially failed the “good character” test, but was granted after he invested $10 million in government bonds”.
Any one else think heads should be rolling at INZ???? Winston Peters MP does and is asking pointed questions of the government. Which I think he needs to do. INZ hound people to breaking point over good character and health issues. Apart from the fact that this guy did have convictions for Internet Piracy and insider trading, he seems also to be way too overweight to have ever passed the BMI 35 or under test. Was he even refered to the Medical Assesors?
BMI <35? Hmmmm.
Amazing just what $10,000,000 can buy you in New Zealand if you know who to pay it to.
A quote from INZ says:
In a statement, the Immigration Service said that “Mr Dotcom made full disclosure of his previous convictions and they were taken into account in the granting of his residence. The Immigration Act allows for discretion to be exercised in certain cases. In this particular case, Immigration NZ weighed the character issue and any associated risk to New Zealand against potential benefits to New Zealand”.
I.e. we don’t actually care if your health is a cost to New Zealand and we don’t actually care if you are a criminal mastermind, as long as you give the NZ government $10,000,000 we will let you in, no problem. On the other hand, if you are a “normal” human being, with a career you have worked hard at, a family you love, and you happen to be a bit over weight – then “Bugger off because you are a danger to New Zealand and our wonderful country has to be protected from you and your filth ever costing us a cent.”
Now interestingly, in one article about this reported some questions put to John Key (Prime Minister), he is quoted as saying that INZ made this decision to accept his good character without reference to the Immigration Minister. Which means they were even slightly concerned. Which also means that they need to take full responsibility for their decision. Bet they won’t.
Another question is: does the New Zealand Government have to return the $10,000,000 in bribes investment funds as they are likely the result of “ill gotten gains”? Will those assests be frozen? Are they part of the MPAA FBI case?
Sometimes, even with my own personal animosity towards Immigration New Zealand taken into account, they manage to sicken me with their ability to make decisions based on how rich you are and ignore how you got the money.
$75 million for a new INZ IT system…
…what could possibly go wrong?
Well now, I’m not saying that it actually will go wrong – I’m just saying I don’t have a huge amount of faith is all.
The Immigration Global Management System is due to start being implemented later in 2012. (Not due for competetion till 2015 though). And let’s be clear – INZ really do need it – the system they use now is a joke, and enables a huge amount of immigration to occur that would be stopped if staff could actually see info from other offices. The system is so antiquated – INZ can’t even access records electronically and have to “Courier” documents between offices. It takes over 3 weeks to get paperwork from NZ to London. Mind you – given the state of the internet access in New Zealand – perhaps I am being unfair.
On second thoughts – no – I’m not.
This will certainly fix part of the problem – but the bottom line is that INZ staff are still a major problem – badly trained and often with bad attitudes and appalling lack of knowledge of Immigration Law and processes. No amount of shiny new IT systems is going to fix that problem .
Scarily – the Auditor General reported on this back in June 2009 and recommended a complete overhaul of the system. Now this being the very security of New Zealand’s Borders we are talking about, I would have thought that perhaps they could have sorted this out a bit sooner.
And just for kicks – Immigration New Zealand itself tells us:
Customers applying for visas will have a transformed experience
You notice they don’t say improved? 
I was trying to find out who was going to be responsible for putting the system in – but all I could find anywhere was cut-and paste reporting of the press release from the immigration minister. Hubby has discovered that as of early December, the decision had not been made about who had the contract to put this system in. Can’t say I envy them!
For the IT people out there – EDS are responsible for the current pile of shite masquerading as an IT system.
New Zealand has a new Immigration Minister
With the election over and the results finalised, we have a second National government. Which means a re-jig of the government posts. Jonathan Coleman has been moved from Immigration and will now be the Defence Minister. I hope he actually does something in that role, because he doesn’t seem to have actually done much in Immigration to be honest.
Your new minister is Nathan Guy.
Good luck to him. Immigration has to be one of the most thankless tasks in Government to be honest: most of your own country think you are way too soft, and the immigrants think you are heartless and brutal. It can’t be an easy job to navigate.
Immigration Updates.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Immigration Advisers, NZIS & Immigration issues
There’s actually been quite a lot happening on the immigration front here – I’e just been too lazy (and too depressed by it all) to blog about it. So Instead of writing an stream of rather sad and depressing posts – I decided to do it in one short sharp shock, and write an update instead.
1/ Immigration New Zealand being idiotic over relationship statuses.
It’s an annoyance that never seems to go away – but another couple are being harassed my INZ over the fact that INZ don’t believe their relationship is real. They have a baby together, and they are in fact married – but that is not enough for the bean counters and paper shufflers at INZ.
Despite him being married and with a child on the way, Immigration NZ visa services manager Jan Clark said proof of a shared home, finances, belongings and household chores were required to prove they were a genuine couple.
Marriage certificate and – dare I say it – an advanced pregnancy – isn’t enough???? A few years ago, I came across a poster on a forum who had to go through this farce despite being married for 40 years. Before joint bank accounts were common. At the end of the day lack of knowledge on the part of immigration staff does not constitute a lack of relationship on an immigrants part. So this isn’t a one-off situation.
Joint Bank Accounts and bills. It’s a necessity if you don’t want to have to deal with this kind of crap.
2/ More Kiwi’s employ slave immigrant labour.
This it has to be said, affects mostly ethnic minority or pacific islander immigrants, who seem to be less confident and knowledgeable about their rights and the law. That is not to say that western immigrants don’t get similar treatment, but it tends to be of a lesser scale (paid considerably less, conned into taking 2 year work visa positions and forced to do a job that differs markedly from that applied for or you lose your visa- that sort of thing).
In this case – a Wellington “businesswoman” – whose identity is protected by name suppression laws, employed 2 Fijians, did not pay them the minimum wage, and did not pay them holiday pay. She also employed them illegally while they were here on visitors visas.
3/ Immigration Adviser holds on to a passport for over a year.
This is a bit of an odd one, as I can’t find the adviser listed at the IAA, even under past licence holders. So hopefully this guy, Piliki Talanoa, will be prosecuted under the Immigration Advisers Licencing Act. His client, a hairdresser by trade, gave him the passport last September in order to get a work visa renewal. The agent apparetly closed his office down last month, at which point the police managed to get the passport back.
Mr Talanoa says Mr Cohen changed his mind about which category visa he wanted to apply for and that caused the delay, a claim Mr Cohen strongly denies.
A hairdresser by trade, Mr Cohen says he’s pleased to have his passport back and hopes to have a new work permit approved by Immigration New Zealand. But the delays have cost him the chance to apply for residency, he says.
“I have to apply for a work permit from the beginning.”
His advice to other people seeking work permits is to deal directly with Immigration New Zealand.
Mr Talanoa wouldn’t discuss why he abandoned his former office in Otahuhu so suddenly.
But property manager Johan Ackerman says Mr Talanoa had already left the property when the owners showed up to evict him.
Hmmm, there’s a story there – including why he doesn’t appear to have ever held an Immigration Advisers licence. Of course the IAA has no authority to read this article and act on its contents unless someone makes a complaint. The police haven’t charged Mr Talanoa with anything. Question is: why not?
4/ A good news story – 102 year old bypasses the system.
I say good news – as it undoubtedly is for the lady who has been given a 3 year visitor visa instead of the normal 6 months, and for her daughter. It’s not so good though for the hundreds if not thousands of people who refused help or consideration from the Immigration Ministry. So on the one hand I am chuffed to bits about this one, on the other hand it annoys me considerably.
The details are that Louise Sydes UK rest home was being closed, and rather than be relocated, she wanted to move to be with her daughter in Auckland. They contacted the Immigration Minsiter’s office and appear to have just asked them to let her stay. Ive read 2 articles about this – neither of them mention anything about going via Immigration New Zealand, or applying for residency via the family stream, or indeed having to pass the stringent medical tests.
Speaking from New Zealand her daughter Sue Pearson said she was ‘excited’.
She said: ‘Usually family members are only allowed to come for six months but we wrote to the minister of immigration who granted us permission for her to come and live with us.
Given the desperate needs of some people I have come across to get a visa to live in New Zealand, and the crap they have to go through to get it – IF they get it (often they don’t)- I cant help but be a little angry about this. It does kinda make a mockery out of the pain of other families who are refused the right to live together.
5/ Another Indian family facing deportation.
Pooja Kapila, whose husband Satinder is in Waikeria Prison awaiting deportation, was so desperate to avoid what she says is the death sentence of being returned to the slums of the Punjab that she refused to sign the documents presented to her at their Te Puke home on October 21.
They have been living here in New Zealand for 10 years. They have three children, one of them is a New Zealand citizen by birth, having been born here just one year after they arrived. This was before the loophole allowing this to happen was closed. Now I’m probably going to come over as heartless and cold on this – but I really think in case like this we cannot keep holding INZ to blame. Often from reading these kinds of articles, I find I end up making a judgement (based on very little information) about whether I feel the families should be allowed to stay or not. I really cant work out why in other cases I feel compassion, but in this one I don’t. Perhaps it’s because the third child was born so soon after arriving, perhaps it’s because after 10 years of living in New Zealand Mrs Kapila needs an interpreter. Perhaps it’s because once again “celebrity” Immigration Adviser Tuariki Delamere is involved.
As is often the case with these articles – they are full of emotion, and short on facts. As is also often the case, the comments with the article are somewhat enlightening.
Why has Immigration New Zealand hidden the complaints process again?
Immigration New Zealand have revamped their website. And surprise, surprise, any mention of the complaints process has vanished into thin air.
This is what the INZ homepage used to look like (Courtesy of WayBack Machine).
You will notice the complaints process is the 11th option on the right hand side.
Now the new version:
An lo – it’s disappeared. Anyone would think they didn’t want immigrants knowing they had a complaints process.
I wonder of the Ombudsman has noticed?
Now the complaints process is still available but you now have to search for it – which obviously means you have to be aware that there is a complaints process to search for. I note with no surprise whatsoever that the fist link that comes up when you do so is a dead end (which is also the link I had on my links page). The second link actually gets you to the complaints process. I have updated my link so that INZ can’t hide from my readers.
Now this is still an improvement on when we wanted to make a complaint about INZ – the process was not published anywhere. In fact – this blog was the first place it was ever published. (Something Im still dead chuffed to have been able to do!)
You know – every time I’m tempted to think we may have turned a corner on the immigration process and there may be hope that it will get better – along comes something like this and I am reminded why I am so cynical.
Here is the correct link. Nice try INZ.
Should white immigrants be banned from New Zealand?
So apparently – there was a report produced by the Department of Labour (who run Immigration New Zealand), that said that Maori in New Zealand were more likely to express anti-immigration feelings than any other ethnicity. Now that in itself is not actually offensive – people can and will believe as they wish – and honestly I would be surprised if the findings were different. I imagine you could ask the same question in any country and get the same response and I do not actually think anti-immigration feeling equates to racist feelings – I think that they are two totally seperate issues.
But what has turned this on it’s head is the bizarre (and truly convoluted) brain-fart racism that has exploded out of the mouth of a head-up-her-backside “academic” at Auckland University – who appears to know diddly squat about immigration – and a lot about the worthiness of her own “intelligence”.
Margaret Mutu has suggested that immigration from “white” countries – particularly the US, UK and South Africa – should be cut because people from those countries have “White Supremacist attitudes”.
Oh really?
Because -like – her attitude just speaks of tolerance and racial understanding??? I really am sick of twats like this – racist to the core – whining about others being racist. Get a sodding grip you stupid woman. She is the head of Maori Studies at Auckland Uni – yes – this jumped up windbag is actually teaching young people – and spreading this kind of crap to a new generation who will be taught to hate white people.
So here is what I don’t understand (probably cos I’m not a “professor” like Mrs Head up her backside Mutu and my poor immigrant brain cant cope with the hard stuff!)
1/ If the report talks about the fact that it is predominantly Maori who express more racist views – how on earth does that get turned round in this woman’s head that white immigrants = white supremacists?
2/ Where on earth has the silly bint dredged up any proof that white immigrants = white supremacists? I mean- she’s an academic – surely she has some proof to back this up?
3/ It appears that Ms Mutu is actually Scottish on her mother’s side – I would like to know which half of herself she is going to force to leave NZ for white supremacist leanings – since it is seemingly that easy to tell!
4/ Refusing to back down – Ms Brain Fart has suggested that Immigrants be tested for racist feelings when coming here – how does someone hell bent on making this kind of commentary (and being a clever little professor) not know that all immigrants have to sign the following statement when we apply to immigrate:
Have you or any of your family members included in your application ever been:
• a member of, or associated with, any group of persons or organisation which, at the time of membership or association, had objectives which were based on hostility against persons or groups of persons on the basis of their colour, race, or ethnic or national origin, or were based on a representation that persons of a particular race or colour are inherently inferior or superior to other races or colours?
5/ How come the likes of Mrs Mutu and Hone Harawira do not have adhere to that – but will endlessly claim – with no factual basis whatsoever, that because I happen to be born white (and worse English) that I automatically have such leanings – and worse will receive no punishment for doing so. Whereas clearly a white person would be sacked by now – not allowed to hide behind “freedom of speech”. (Personally she has every right to be as racist and stupid as she likes – I just don’t see why she should be paid for it – or paid to teach others to think the same way.)
6/ Muti claims she isn’t racist because
“Racism is defined in the academic books as an ideological and attitudinal phenomenon of superiority of your race, and that in combination with power, if that superiority is used to deprive another group of what is rightfully theirs on the basis of their race, that is the definition of racism.”
How can someone who thinks she is so clever be so monumentally stupid? I mean – “I cant be a racist because I looked it up in a book and I don’t fit the book’s definition”? I guess it is lost on her lofty thinking that she is in fact determining that she is superior to white immigrants because she isnt a white and thus not a nasty white supremacist. Also, how can someone so clever claim she isnt in any way depriving entire countries full of people of the right to determine for themselves whether or not they are white supremacists – instead of having her decide for them – because she is Maori (well – Half Maori half scottish) and they aren’t – so clearly she is superior enough to make that determination. Even by her own “academic drivel” defination she is a racist – who just doesn’t seem to think she could possibly be one because she isn’t all white.
7/ Possibly the most important – how come she doesn’t get that immigration by whites IS restricted in NZ? Its restricted for everyone. Not one of us who has been through the rigorous process would ever think anything other than we fought tooth and nail to prove our worth. There are limited places allowed for immigrants – and we have to be damn good to get one of them.
So whats the outcome?
Well, pretty much universally Margaret Mutu is seen as being exactly the thing she claims I must be – racist. She looks like a right idiot – she looks stupid and ignorant. There are calls for her to be sacked and the leader of Nga Puhi Iwi has lodged a formal complaint to the race relations commisioner. I think it is important to understand that despite what people like Margaret Mutu and Hone Harawira would like eery to believe, not all Maori hate, despise or blame whites for thier current problems. And not all whites here think Maori are lazy bludgers. Most people here, in my experience anyway – are actually smart enough – and human enough – to understand there are issues on both sides that need dealing with. But they still seem to manage to treat other with some decency and respect.
Clearly there are white supremacists in New Zealand. There are also quite a few Brown Supremacists as well – and some of them are in Parliament – so this is something you need to be aware of.
For the record – I (white though I may be) do not think I am superior to anyone who isn’t white. I cannot say That I am not a judgemental person (as anyone who reads this blogs could probably testify), but I judge people on who they are – how they treat me and others. I can also say that I do however think I am vastly superior to Margaret Mutu. It has nothing to do with me being English or white and her being half Maori (or indeed half scottish!). I feel that way because this is a person who has shown that they treat other people appallingly – thay have no respect for others and they are completely ignorant of the facts they claim to be “expert” about. Any person with attitudes as dumb as Ms Mutu’s is someone I feel superior towards. It’s kinda like thinking I must be a better person than someone who think’s its fun to kick small dogs.
Edited to add: Theres another article out today about this Having dug herself into a hole – Ms Mutu is intent on digging further by continuing to defend her comments as not-racist on account of Maori Cannot Be Racist Because They Dont Have Any Power. I suggest that Maori who do have power (and there are plenty) – may be a bit peeved at that assertion. This is the first article on the topic in the mainstream media that has allowed comments – something in itself that I find distasteful – why was she protected from the disgust her comments would bring? The comments are encouraging – people of all races standing up to to counted as NOT accepting racism – from anyone. Also a fair few explaining to miss cleverclogs how to use a dictionary – it’s kinda priceless
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
-
