Shamabil Yacob

Right.

And part of the opposition that we're seeing is this almost this unplanned, unmanaged immigration policy.

We haven't kept up when it comes to housing supply.

We haven't kept up when it comes to our physical infrastructure or hospitals or education, nor have we invested in the integration of our new migrants into a community.

It doesn't mean they need to be exactly like us, but for them to be able to navigate to

New Zealand society.

Our immigration policy essentially is, do you qualify to come here?

If yes, great.

After that, well, good luck.

You're on your own, right?

In Canada, even there they have had a turn in immigration policy and attitudes towards immigration.

But until recently, it had been pretty positive.

And what they had was locally set quotas for how many people would come, but also local decision making of how do we create the environment for new immigrants to become part of the community, to learn about our culture, to learn about our language, to learn about how we do things, and a two-way process.

And I think that meant that resistance to immigration only really picked up post-COVID when it just went up too fast.

We're feeling pretty stressed financially.

And that matters because, one, the impact of the recession and the cost of living crisis has really hurt a lot of people.

It's a big chunk of New Zealanders now.

But two, we know that when people are living in financial discomfort and financial stress, that has a real bearing on social cohesion.

And what I mean by that is it both kind of creates tunnel vision and you're unable to have hope and positive things about the future, but also because it reduces participation, participation in sport, in social activities with each other and all those other bits and pieces.

And it becomes this kind of very isolating, horrible situation.