LINDSAY MITCHELL: Residents must retain their right to participate
- Administrator
- Jul 5
- 2 min read
According to Treasury, "People present in New Zealand each year are increasingly non-NZ citizens":
"In 2024, there were 476,000 resident visa holders to spend at least one day in New Zealand, and 705,000 holders of permanent resident visas."
Residents who have lived in NZ for at least a year can vote. But Winston Peters wants to change that to prevent several hundred thousand people who work and pay taxes in NZ from doing so.
Many of these people will have citizen applications in process.
For years I had tenants who were honest, employed, totally reliable, wanting to make NZ home but were in the long-winded queue for citizenship. I know because I signed related papers on their behalf and frequently queried their progress. They were English, Colombian, and Malaysian.
But NZ First is quite happy to tax and rate residents yet deny them the right to participate in the democratic process.
Stuff also reports:
"Speaking at a campaign meeting in Warkworth on Sunday, Peters said the party would end voting rights for permanent residents, arguing that deciding New Zealand’s future should be “the privilege of those who have sworn allegiance to New Zealand”.
One can't help but wonder which 'New Zealand' he refers to? Is that the one governed by the Crown or the growing dystopian parallel version envisaged by those who claim Maori never ceded sovereignty? Including the leader of the Labour Party.
The whole business of loyalty to NZ is fraught, given the turmoil of the last decade. How many politicians have been described in traitorous terms? How often are NZ leaders accused of being mere puppets whose strings are pulled by globalists?
I have no idea about the veracity of those claims but to hear Winston speak about 'allegiance to NZ' as if it is something all citizens share by virtue of their citizenry is laughable.
Loyalty to New Zealand is a subjective can of worms.
So reverting to an objective argument: people who live here, work here, pay taxes and contribute in many other ways must have a say in the laws that affect them.
On the weekend of the 250th birthday of American Independence its worth remembering the clarion cry of the American Founding Fathers - No taxation without representation.
GOOD on you, Lindsey. YOU and your ilk are too stupid, arrogant, and ignorant to realize that the 'immigrants' you so ferociously protect, are in NZ to take over, NOT assimilate, or become New Zealanders. PLEASE do research, and find out what their modus opperandai has been Worldwide, for 1000 years. God defend NZ
I am a "resident" and not a citizen.
I was born in Adelaide in 1946. We moved to NZ in 1950, where I have been residing ever since.
I have been educated here, worked here for 50+ years, paid taxes here and consider myself a true Kiwi !!
I did consider citizenship years ago, but it was a bureaucratic complex process and was not needed. It was also made clear to me that, being born in Aus, I was accepted.
However, I do agree that allowing migrants to vote after 2 years in wrong.
Make it 10 years ?
Foolish and unnecessary of Winston to open this pandora's box. It will get him zero votes-the only people to whom this will matter at all already support him. It's a gift to Labour/Greens/Opportunity Party.
Taking the vote away from permanent visa holders and especially dual nationals will do more harm than good in the long run, and more than likely will result in less investment into New Zealand, and capital flight.
Good luck telling a Brit, a Canadian or an American to renounce their citizenship in order to vote in Aotearoa New Zealand. Just another reason to leave-or not to come at all.
This has the potential to be a great country, but right now it's seriously fucked up. This…
Normally I agree with what you say, but this I can’t disagree any more with Lindsay. Only citizens should be able to vote. Being a net taxpayer and law abiding person is (well should be) a minumal expectation for a resident in the country. I would go further and say only net taxpayers should be voting. We should not give franchise to anyone who is dependant on the rest of society. Otherwise we will get those receiving funds voting to tax those who pay for those funds. That’s a short pathway to a downward spiral for the nation.
It is a tricky situation. Residents permanently living overseas should not have the right to vote full stop in my opinion.
Thre are also many permanent residents that "live" in New Zealand but only for short periods at a time. If they retain citizenship elsewhere they should not be permitted to direct the course of this nation.
That is my opinion but when the referendum appears, which knowing Winston it probably never will, I shall give it more thought.