Policy advice firm Iron Duke Partners managing director Phil O’Reilly, a former BusinessNZ chief executive, was reassured by the approach the new government seemed to be taking.

He told RNZ the net migration figures seen now “probably feel too loose if it carries on forever”, but the government should be focusing on targeting workforce need rather than a specific number.

“The question is not whether there’s too many people coming in, it’s whether the right people are coming in to fill those gaps that employers need, and other things like family reunification.”

“Immigration policy should be taking into account the real needs of businesses and communities at any given time, so you definitely want a system that is nimble, that enables employers to get the talent that they need, and at the same time it doesn’t exclude New Zealanders from the jobs that they want to do.”

He said the current level of arrivals was partly the result of the previous government’s “knee-jerk” response after the Covid-19 travel restrictions dropped.

“[It was] justified by the last Labour government as listening to employers, if you like, but at the same time I think the average employer would say ‘we’ve got to have a balance here’.”

“I am encouraged by the idea that says ‘we need a strategy, we need a plan about immigration’ because that’ll actually give confidence not just for employers who might want to set up a business or grow their business … but also migrants who might want to come to New Zealand.”

Luxon later told reporters at the post-Cabinet media briefing he was not planning to set a cap on the number of migrants, saying no government could realistically achieve that.

“With our economic cycles being quite variable, the skills shortages that we need, it’s a very dynamic sort of setup. All I’m foreshadowing to you is that actually the current levels of 118,000 net migration are not sustainable for New Zealand in the long term,” he said.

He said it was about making sure there was rigour in application of inviting migrants to the country, and said another priority for the government was to get more New Zealanders off a benefit and into work.

RNZ