What Can Be Done?

Perhaps the situation as depicted above seems somewhat exaggerated, but nevertheless the underlying trends are unmistakable. They may be a legacy of the policy of previous New Zealand Governments, but unless the present Government acts radically to change the situation it will be co-responsible for the results.

Simply to halt Tongan immigration to New Zealand is no solution, and would only increase the drastic labour shortage in New Zealand at the present time. What is needed is an improvement in the conditions of employment of migrant labour from Tonga and elsewhere in the Pacific, so that Polynesian workers are placed on an equal footing with New Zealand's local labour force. Parallel with this, New Zealand must reverse the situation whereby the Pacific Islands are subsidising New Zealand industry entirely at their own expense, and if the Islands economies are to be closely associated with New Zealand's (as seems inevitable), the the benefits of this should be more equitably distributed among the respective partners.