Letter from Deborah Cunliffe, Bay of Plenty Conservative candidate.

Today there is a meeting of the New Zealand Migration and Investment Conference where the major parties will debate whether immigrants are responsible for the woes of the Auckland housing market, whilst considering what is an acceptable level of immigration.

Net migration into New Zealand year end July 2014 showed a net gain of 41,000 mainly from India, China and the UK.

Politicians would do well to consider the Conservative Parties Policy which suggests maintaining sustainable immigration by ensuring that all immigrants have a track record of contributing into the New Zealand economy before they are able to draw upon some of the social services we take for granted.

Targeting self-supporting immigrants will address this issue, allowing immigrants who can demonstrate they can add to the New Zealand economy without drawing upon its resources.

The Conservative Party also believes that the welfare system should be limited to those who have permanent residency status or New Zealand citizenship and have a track record of contributing into New Zealand through paying tax here for a minimum of 6 months.

We acknowledge immigrants greatly add to the communities they take up residence in, grow our economy and enrich our country.

Targeting immigration to those who can aid, supplement or fill needs within New Zealand, not able to be filled by those already resident in New Zealand, should be a priority.

When an immigrant commits a crime that requires incarceration, we believe they should be liable for deportation.

The New Zealand tax payer should not have to foot the bill except where deportation would likely eventuate in death or torture in the country of origin.

The Conservative Party is based on family values and strongly supports the reunification of families.

We believe it is in the best interest of children for the family unit to be together, providing stability.

We are committed to allowing special immigration status to those who want to reunite their families and can prove that they can privately cover and support a family member until they are eligible for permanent residency for high cost public services such as health care.

The Conservative Party is committed to maintaining the current number of refugee's.

We accept that as a responsible global citizen we have a social responsibility to take in a quota of refugees, however, due to resourcing constraints and a limited cultural capacity we acknowledge this has to be limited.

We are committed to maintaining the quota of 750 refugees per year.

We are also committed to ensuring a better resourced assimilation process is put in place for refugees into New Zealand society to ensure they are able to participate in kiwi culture.

Source: Office of Deborah Cunliffe.