The Health Minister is entirely unaware that desperately needed medical specialists that will save lives are not on the immigration Green List and unable to gain residence immediately, National’s Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford says.

“Medical specialists including gastroenterologists, paediatricians and oncologists are urgently needed in New Zealand, but migrants in these occupations are not on the green list and therefore not able to gain residence under fast-tracked provisions. 

“When questioned in Parliament today about why these medical specialists are not on the Green List, Health Minister Andrew Little falsely stated that they are – they are not.

“It is astonishing that after weeks of media attention on the crisis in the health workforce, the Minister doesn’t know that these specialists are not fast-tracked and simply assumed that they were. It shows he is completely out of touch with the crisis unfolding in the health workforce, which his Government has presided over.

“The fact that food technologists are prioritised on the Green List ahead of medical specialists during a health crisis shows that Labour’s immigration policies are entirely flawed.

“Rather than waiting until the middle of next year to review New Zealand’s immigration settings, the Government should immediately put nurses and medical specialists on the Straight to Residence Pathway to save lives.”