Refugees or Economic Migrants?

In a feature article in this Saturday’s Press it is revealed that half of Christchurch’s Somalian refugees have left the city and moved to Australia.

The Press states that over half of the Somalian community of 800, which peaked in the 1990s, has now left Christchurch to seek “opportunities in Australia”.

I would have thought that refugees, who are supposedly coming to New Zealand because they are in fear of their lives, would be more concerned with cementing their legal status in New Zealand than in seeking economic opportunities in Australia.

Refugees from Afghanistan have now replaced Somalians as the largest refugee group in Christchurch and currently number about 730.

The movement of refugees from New Zealand to Australia raises a number of questions about New Zealand’s immigration policy:

Why is New Zealand letting in immigrants from third world countries if there aren’t suitable jobs for them?

How is the government distinguishing between refugees in physical danger, and opportunistic economic migrants?

Is New Zealand seen as a soft touch for economic migrants trying to get into Australia?

And finally, why is this important issue mentioned in passing in a PR piece entitled “Ethnic enrichment,” rather than in the hard news pages.