Though he’s not using the word ‘crisis’ to describe Queenstown’s crippling staff shortages, the Immigration Minister says he’s acutely aware of the problem, and keen to find practical solutions.
‘‘What I acknowledge is it’s extremely difficult for everyone’’, says Michael Wood, who spoke with local tourism and hospo operators by Zoom last Thursday after plane delays meant he couldn’t meet them in person.
‘‘People can use the language they want, but we recognise there’s a problem here, and the key thing is to focus in on the solutions.’’
Wood, speaking to Mountain Scene after the Zoom meeting, says the government’s ‘‘really focused on all the different levers we can pull to try and help with that’’.
‘‘We’ve shown over recent months with changes to working holiday [visas] we’re willing to make changes, to bring in new policies to help, and we’ll keep taking that approach.’’
Though he wasn’t here to see all the ‘staff wanted’ signs on hospo premises, he says he’s aware of the stress it’s causing owners and existing staff, forcing many venues to close one or two days a week.
‘‘There’s no doubt there’s a genuine and significant shortage that has all of those impacts.
‘‘You’ll find this in most tourism towns around the world at the moment.’’
Wood says at last week’s meeting ‘‘I heard some really practical suggestions from employers and other groups that I want to give good consideration to’’.
He notes the government’s approved about 35,000 working holiday visas — ‘‘we’re approving those very quickly’’ — and extended their arrival times.
‘‘We had a good conversation about what are the ideas we’ve got that can perhaps encourage those people who’ve had their visas approved to make the journey to New Zealand as quickly as possible?’’
He’d asked Immigration NZ, in the next week or two, ‘‘to go out to some of those people who’ve been approved but have not travelled here to directly ask them what are some of the things that might make a difference’’.
‘‘And then we form up a response that’s based around that.’’
Wood’s heard about issues outside his portfolio impacting on people taking jobs, like the shortage of ‘‘decent, affordable accommodation’’, and problems with public transport.
‘‘I made a commitment at the end of the discussion to do a little bit of work with some of my [ministerial] colleagues about what a really focused, joined-up piece of work might be’’ — a ‘taskforce’, in other words, that’s got ‘‘the right people around the table to really crunch into some of these issues’’.
In terms of the new accredited employer work visa scheme, Wood says it’s now ‘‘moving along very quickly’’.
‘‘We’ve now issued 70,000 of those, we are getting quite a strong ability for employers to go out into the international market and recruit.’’
To speed up the final stage, Immigration NZ’s recruiting about 120 more staff, and shifting staffing resources.
Wood says he’s still hoping to get down before Christmas.
