Monday, March 05, 2012

Inhuman

So, National gets elected, and they're already changing the immigration system to favour their rich mates, putting the wealthy at the front of the queue and the poor in a "slow processing lane". That's openly corrupt - what else would you call it when wealth buys you entry into a country? - but there's also this bit:

Applications from parents seeking residency to be with children already in New Zealand will be placed in the slow processing lane if their children-sponsors are not "high-income" people.

Parents will no longer be able to bring in dependent children...

Think about that for a moment. What National is saying is that a family life is something only the wealthy are entitled to. Its an ugly subtext which underlies much of their rhetoric about welfare, but in the case of immigrants it is out in the open and will be given force of law. Kiwis - new Kiwis, but Kiwis all the same - will not be allowed to have something as basic and normal as a normal relationship with their parents or children, unless they are rich and buy their way in.

That's not just corrupt, its also inhuman. But I guess that's what happens when you see everything through the lens of money and wealth: every human (as opposed to economic) value is simply ignored.