Trump’s Immigration Ban in NZ
Trump’s ban on immigration to the US from certain countries has stirred the world within this last week and caused a lot of commotion all over the place. In New Zealand, the prime minister Bill English is under heavy critique for his indefinite stance on the matter.
The labour party leader Andrew Little has shared his opinion on stuff.co regarding the matter, outlining the massive step backwards for humanity which is represented by the immigration ban. He requests from English to clearly and openly reject the policy, to “honour our tradition of standing up to bullies by publicly condemning Trump’s Muslim ban. He wouldn’t be sticking his neck out. Plenty of world leaders have already spoken up.” Furthermore, he demands immigration limits to be raised to 1500, to demonstrate New Zeland’s “Humanity”.
Further criticism towards the government was mouthed about the hiring of a “trump staffer”, to “help […] lobby for improved business visa conditions.” No official comment has been made yet, but it surely will be brought upon English within the next couple of days.
Pressure to publicly speak up against the policy on him has been increasing. English also seems to be avoiding any direct answers to wether he will tell Mr. Trump his opinion, for some detailed quotes see this article. The only definite statements made by English up to this point is, that such a policy would not be implemented in New Zealand. His denial of questions and refusal to take a stand becomes somewhat comical:” When asked why he had not criticised Mr Trump’s order, Mr English said, “I just have”.”
Lastly, in an extremely awkward radio interview his hesitation becomes really obvious. Upon being asked, he says that the implemented policy was “Not racist”, the interviewer even asking in the middle of the interview what English was so afraid of.
I think in times like these, a firm and clear leadership is absolutely neccessary for a country and for the world community as a whole, and Mr. English should maybe ask himself how he wants to be recepted and remembered during the next few hours.
