Zealand Citizens Research Articles

Terrorism, Immigration, and Multiculturalism

Three defining events have shaped public policy in Australia towards the war on terrorism. The September 2001 attack on New York was obviously the first. This prompted legislation in the following year that expanded the powers of the main intelligence body, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and expedited its move from intelligence collection to security operations. The second was the bombing attacks in London in July 2005, which shifted the emphasis from immigration control to domestic vigilance. The third was the major race riot at Cronulla, Sydney in December 2005. This alerted authorities to the deterioration in ethnic relations created by these previous events and led to increased penalties against violence. No terrorist attacks have happened in Australia. Only a handful of arrests have been made, most awaiting trial. Loss of life has been confined to the Bali bombing of October 2002, which was not directed specifically against Australians. This resulted in greatly improved cooperation between Indonesian and Australian security and police, something that had started to develop in response to the prevention of unauthorised asylum seeker arrivals, most of whom came through Indonesia. Thus the major policy shifts were from border protection to internal security. But the public debate was more concerned with immigration, multiculturalism, and the integration of the Muslim population. Both the 2001 and 2004 elections were fought essentially on security, to the advantage of the ruling Liberal-National coalition led by John Howard.PLANNED, SELECTIVE, AND CONTROLLED IMMIGRATIONThere is nothing random about Australian immigration. Everyone entering for whatever purpose must have a with the exception of New Zealand citizens. New Zealanders receive a nominal visa on arrival. Others arriving without a valid visa may be returned to their place of origin or given a visa, which allows them to remain while their status is determined. Those seeking asylum under the UN convention and protocol on refugees (1951/1967) will also be given a bridging visa if they arrive on another visa. If they have no they are mandatorily detained until their status is determined. This has been the case since 1993.1Those asylum seekers arrested at sea were often deported to two Islands (Nauru and Manus) under the now suspended Pacific solution of 2001-02 Refugees and humanitarian settlers are processed overseas mainly through the UN high commissioner for refugees or by Australian migration posts. Ideally, then, nobody enters Australia other than in transit without the permission of the Australian government. If they do, they are interned. This was clearly stated by Prime Minister John Howard during his victorious 2001 election campaign: We will decide who comes to this country and under what circumstances. While this implicitly breached the UN convention of which Australia is a signatory, the principle of national sovereignty has been rigorously asserted ever since. This was easily sustained. Regular passenger access to Australia is now exclusively by air and there are fewer than 20 regulated points of entry.3This tightening of admission criteria follows a long history of planned and financially assisted immigration (1831-1982) that allowed Australian authorities to select those immigrants they favoured. Steadily over the years, the visa system was extended until it became one of the tightest in the world. But state intervention also involved actively encouraging immigration, usually with financial inducements such as paid or subsidized passages. Just as few other developed societies so rigidly imposed visas, so no other so generously encouraged those it wanted to settle. This degree of state control is not fully understood in Australia even now. In public debates that break out from time to time, many seem to think that anyone can come to Australia. This is far from being the case. …

Making Asian students, making students Asian: The racialisation of export education in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: In recent years, international education has become a source of considerable political, academic and media debate in New Zealand. This is nowhere more the case than with regards to Auckland, the New Zealand city that has hosted the greatest number of international students. This paper focuses on the media debates around international students in Auckland with particular emphasis on the representations of the largest group of international students, those who originate from countries within the North-East Asian region. The media representations of these students have fixed a diverse group of individuals within a singular racial identity that is known by stereotypical economic, cultural and social characteristics. As a result, these representations have further problematised the interaction between international students and the host population in Auckland while simultaneously implicating a cohort of young New Zealand citizens and permanent residents who are of similar descent within the same discourses. This process of othering the Asian student, regardless of citizenship, has consequences not simply for the practice of exporting education in this city but also for the future of a multicultural Auckland and New Zealand.

Quality of hospital care for Māori patients in New Zealand: retrospective cross-sectional assessment

New Zealand has a substantial indigenous minority--the Māori--that has considerably worse health status than the majority population. We aimed to assess possible disparities in quality of hospital care for Māori with data on preventable adverse events as an indicator of suboptimum treatment. We undertook a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of admissions to general public hospitals with more than 100 beds providing acute care. A sample of 6579 patients admitted in 1998 to 13 hospitals was selected by stratified systematic list sample. We did a two-stage retrospective assessment of records by structured implicit review. Outcome measures were occurrence, effect, and preventability of adverse events. Māori accounted for just greater than 15% of admissions and were on average younger, were more likely to be from from deprived areas, had a different case mix, and were in hospital for a shorter stay compared with patients of non-Māori/non-Pacific origin. Overall, after age standardisation, 14% of admissions for Māori were associated with an adverse event, compared with 11% for non-Māori/non-Pacific patients (p=0.01 for difference between groups). For preventable, in-hospital events, this disparity persisted after controlling for age, other sociodemographic factors, and case mix (adjusted odds ratio 1.47; p=0.05). Analysis of potential causal factors showed no markedly or consistently different pattern between the groups. Despite a predominantly publicly funded hospital system, our findings suggest that hospital care received by Māori is marginally poorer than that received by New Zealand citizens of non-Māori/non-Pacific origin. Although no cause specific to Māori was evident, various policy and system issues can be addressed.

Participative public relations: Power to the people or legitimacy for government discourse?

This article adopts a Foucauldian lens to critique public relations practices that engage stakeholders in participative processes with predetermined outcomes. It contests the popular notion that the role of public relations is to minimize or diffuse conflict, arguing that such efforts are in fact manifestations of power designed to legitimate the discourses, power and positions of the dominant coalition. The analysis concentrates on attempts to transform a national economic discourse at the Catching the Knowledge Wave Conference, held in New Zealand. It illustrates how a government–university alliance deployed public relations to gain legitimacy for economic change with the business community and more generally, New Zealand citizens.

Citizenship education: does it have a place in the curriculum?

Abstract The call for citizenship education as a compulsory part of curriculum has met with a varied response worldwide. While everyone would espouse ideals of ensuring our young people grow up to be active and fair-minded citizens, why does citizenship education not figure more prominently in our curriculum'? This article discusses past, present, and possible future of citizenship education in New Zealand Curriculum. Introduction The call for citizenship education as a compulsory part of curriculum has met with a varied response worldwide. In United Kingdom it was made a compulsory cross-curricular theme in 2002 (see, for example, Kerr, 2002); in United States (where it is known as civics) it is a curriculum area with a set of national standards (Pederson & Cogan, 20(12); in Australia there is ministerial endorsement of Discovering Democracy (a programme that is federally funded and distributed to all states) and there are active citizenship programmes in most states (O'Brien & Parry, 2002); in Canada there has been renewed interest across provinces (Hebert & Sears, 2001); in New Zealand, it barely rates a mention. This article takes notion of citizenship education and discusses its relationship to current New Zealand curriculum. Why has this concept not taken root? I will argue that although it is not specifically named as such, it does exist in a range of guises. I will also argue that there is huge potential for enhancing and strengthening threads that do exist. This article begins with a general discussion of citizenship and citizenship education. I then examine history of citizenship education in New Zealand curriculum and discuss its current status before concluding with recommendations for strengthening its potential. Citizenship: what is it? If not born in New Zealand or of New Zealand parentage, an applicant for New Zealand citizenship must, under Citizenship Act 1977, have: * completed a period of permanent residency for three years (or two years, if married to a new Zealand citizen); * intention to continue to live in New Zealand; * ability to understand and speak English; * a knowledge of and privileges of New Zealand citizenship; and * been certified to be of good character. (1) So what are these responsibilities and privileges? Yvonne Hebert and Alan Sears (2001), writing for Canadian Education Association, define citizenship as the relationship between individual and state, and among individuals within a (p. 1). Rob Gilbert (1996, p.108), an Australian social studies educator, views citizenship as a contested term. He explains: Some definitions emphasise nation stale as an entity to which people should give allegiance and loyalty. Other definitions emphasise individual rights or a sense of shared loyalty. Others focus on citizen participation in government. Gilbert outlines four major views of citizenship: * as a status implying formal rights and duties; * as an identity and a set of moral and social virtues based on democratic ideal; * as a public practice conducted through legal and political processes; and * as participation in decision making in all aspects of life. When discussing citizenship in New Zealand elsewhere (for example, Mutch, 2005) I have adapted these categories as follows, with second one being separated into two to make a total of five: citizenship as status; citizenship as identity; citizenship as democratic ideal, citizenship as public practice; and citizenship as participation. Citizenship as status relates to legal rights and that a person has as a member of a nation state and of a community within that political entity. Citizenship as identity is broader than purely national identity--it can include religious, political, ethnic, regional, or other affiliations, a notion that Kymlicka (1995) calls multicultural or multiple citizenship. …

Improving Our Democracy or a Fraud on the Community? A Closer Look at New Zealand's Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993

Improving Our Democracy or a Fraud on the Community? A Closer Look at New Zealand's Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993

Let’s Dig Down Deep: A Philosophical Look at Social Studies Education in New Zealand

Post-structural analysis is a valuable tool for offering different perspectives, highlighting possible disparities, and suggesting new ways forward. This paper applies a post-structural analysis to social studies education and Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1997). The analysis reveals that social studies education restricts many diverse groups in Aotearoa/New Zealand from identification as “New Zealand citizens” through a focus on “citizenship” education and a singular “national identity”. It is argued that social studies education should move into the postmodern allowing for teachers and students to think across multiple dimensions that recognise diversity and reflect a postmodern philosophy.

Tavita v. Minister of Immigration

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — Treaties protecting rights of family and child — Effect in municipal law — Powers under Immigration Act 1987 — Whether Minister of Immigration entitled to ignore international instrumentsHuman rights — Family rights — Articles 23(1) and 24(1) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and First Optional Protocol — Article 9(1) and (4) of Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 — Change of circumstances — Whether basic rights of family and child need to be taken into account — Child New Zealand citizen — Opportunity to reconsider case in light of rights of child — The law of New Zealand

The Great Experiment: Financial Management Reform in the NZ Health Sector

Examines the move towards a commercialized, economically driven, health sector in New Zealand. Reforms involve extensive organizational rearrangements and the creation of profit‐driven businesses in place of public hospitals. These institutional rearrangements involve the fabrication of new ways of accounting. Attempts to understand the processes involved in the development of information technologies before they become accepted “facts” of organizational life. The fabrication of new technologies cannot be understood as an autonomous sphere of activity, but has to be understood as part of a complex series of political, economic and organizational contexts. Accountants are viewed not as mere technicians reporting on what is, but as active agents contributing to change. Accounting often acts as an arbiter in social conflict. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way it is being called upon to assist in the implementation of clause 25 of the Health and Disability Services Bill, which requires hospitals in New Zealand to act as competitive profit motivated commercial enterprises while at the same time meeting unspecified social obligations. The creation of a pseudo‐market for health services presents a challenge not only for accountants, but for all New Zealand citizens. The outcomes of the radical reforms are uncertain and some fear that the massive restructuring is in the form of an experiment. It is based on an ideology lacking empirical support. In the end it may be shown to have been impractical in the New Zealand context.