Winter's looming, we're worried about another wave of Covid and all the other seasonal sniffles and the health system is already crying out for staff.
So, from now, another 32 job roles go on the green list. If you've got a qualification, you're in.
Have we left it too late? It looks like it.
Have all the decent people looking to move already gone somewhere else? Probably.
And by opening the gates so wide now, do we expose ourselves to the risk of charlatans and fraudsters sneaking through the system? Maybe.
Can the Immigration Department cope? Will these people be checked out as thoroughly as we'd normally expect? Probably not.
But most of all, when you look down the list of occupations we're trying to fill I want to know why our own people don't want these jobs.
Obviously we don't do enough to encourage our own people to train up for these good, well-paying jobs.
Roles like midwifery, nursing, lab scientist and, of course, doctors were already on the green list - why don't New Zealanders want jobs like that?
Now we've added counsellors, dental technicians, dieticians, optometrists and even hospital play therapists to the list.
Why don't New Zealanders want jobs like those?
Immigration Minister Michael Wood has some questions to answer.
Tim Dower is a New Zealand journalist who works for Newstalk ZB as a newsreader and substitutes talkback announcer. This article was first published HERE
And by opening the gates so wide now, do we expose ourselves to the risk of charlatans and fraudsters sneaking through the system? Maybe.
Can the Immigration Department cope? Will these people be checked out as thoroughly as we'd normally expect? Probably not.
But most of all, when you look down the list of occupations we're trying to fill I want to know why our own people don't want these jobs.
Obviously we don't do enough to encourage our own people to train up for these good, well-paying jobs.
Roles like midwifery, nursing, lab scientist and, of course, doctors were already on the green list - why don't New Zealanders want jobs like that?
Now we've added counsellors, dental technicians, dieticians, optometrists and even hospital play therapists to the list.
Why don't New Zealanders want jobs like those?
Immigration Minister Michael Wood has some questions to answer.
Tim Dower is a New Zealand journalist who works for Newstalk ZB as a newsreader and substitutes talkback announcer. This article was first published HERE
2 comments:
One word explains it all I think; education . Plummeting standards in literacy and numeracy means fewer qualified people. Dyslexics for example can be very bright. That is frequently how they are identified. There is a discrepancy better their IQ and achievement. Reading is the quintessential element of schooling but we have completely failed as a country in this area by holding onto ideologies that produce methods of teaching that just don't work. The numeracy project is insane. Multiple ways of doing adding ,subtracting, multiplying and division and problem solving where kids sit in groups working out an answer then frequently the bully decides the ultimate answer. The actually answer may or may not be re-vealed by the teacher ,oops facilitator. Because , often the teacher doesn't like or can't do or doesn't see the value in doing basic arithmetic kids are let loose on one of the many computerized maths programmes, oops games.
There is abysmal ignorance and inertia in the population in general it would seem to know about or do anything. We live in a fools paradise if we rely on overseas expertise to fill our skilled workforce.
Not even Mr Wood, try as he might, can have escaped the brutal and at times tragic result of two factors which have warped his decision-making: ideology and idiocy. NZ's health sector is in ghastly disarray, and opening the floodgates now to workers from overseas will do little to repair it.
Can it be repaired? Yes, with the right management and oversight, and one can only hope that Mr Wood is not in consideration for either role post-election.
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