For my readers outside of New Zealand, many will be unaware of the recent immigration battle of this chap. Martyn Payne and his family moved to New Zealand from the United Kingdom six years ago, where on his arrival he invested 700,000 into a garage and petrol station in the Northland town of Kapiro. Since owning the business he has paid his taxes and brought revenue into the New Zealand economy. However, because of an earlier surgery on his heart the immigration department declined his application for residency and promptly booted him out of the country six weeks ago. According to Payne’s doctors the previous issue with his heart that resulted in surgery, was not one that would be on going. The Immigration department decided though that even a slim chance of needing further surgery to the cost of $25,000 was enough to force him out of the country.
The irony of this entire debacle is that foreign visitors to our country, not foreign residents, owe a total of 19 million dollars for treatment received while visiting our country. The largest bill racked up by an individual patient was in Auckland and cost the District Health board there more than $500,000. So it would seem the government are happy to allow tourists to place our already teetering economy into further debt in the name of tourism, but refuse to allow a man who works hard and brings money to the economy, residency on the off chance he may need 25,000 dollars worth of surgery. How the immigration department can even justify such an argument is beyond me. What annoys me the most about this entire thing is that we have many immigrants in this country, a number of which once here go on to commit crimes and end up spending time inside our jails. The amount of money spent on corrections in these particular cases is horrendous, and yet these people are not deported they remain in New Zealand free to drain our economy as repeat offenders. It would seem to me that the NZ government has their priorities wrong and need to sit back and take a good hard look at there legislation.
Mr Payne has spent the last six weeks staying in Brisbane while people on this side of the ditch fought a hard battle in his corner against the immigration department. Mr Payne’s daughter claimed that her family hadn’t cost the tax payers a single cent of money for healthcare since immigrating, stating that if one of them is sick they visit the doctor and pay their way just as every other Kiwi does. More than 1200 supporters have signed a petition regarding Mr Payne’s situation and the Motor Trade Association (MTA) have hired an immigration agent to fight his case.
Thanks to the efforts of so many that supported this event, especially the hard work of both the MTA and Campbell Live on TV 3, Mr Payne has been granted an eight month temporary work visa. This has enabled him to return to New Zealand, the place he now claims as his home. During those eight months he will be able to apply and offer proof of health in order to attempt to obtain permanent residency. We as Kiwi’s are battlers and generally all round good buggers, and Martyn Payne has proved himself to be both of those. He may have an English accent and originally come from the UK, but he has proved himself to be a Kiwi at heart. All your supporters, including myself, are behind you 100% and will continue to fight in your corner until you are granted permanent residency.
Haere mai ki to mātau kāinga. Ka whakakaha mātau kia toa ki te riri. Kia Kaha!
(Welcome to our home. We endeavour to win the battle. Be Strong!)
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