Waikato Business News | December 1, 2023
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10 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2023</strong><br />
End of year immigration<br />
update for employers<br />
Advertorial<br />
St Peter’s school<br />
changes backed<br />
Employers employing migrant<br />
workers were required to be<br />
accredited by Immigration New<br />
Zealand from July 2022. Once<br />
accredited, an employer must then<br />
obtain a Job Check approval, before<br />
the worker can apply for an accredited<br />
employer work visa (AEWV).<br />
Since this new regime began, now 16<br />
months ago, there have been 31,000<br />
employer accreditation applications,<br />
49,000 Job Check applications<br />
covering 230,000 jobs, and 94,000<br />
AEWVs have been approved. The<br />
processing of all these applications<br />
had been going very (too?) smoothly<br />
until a few months ago when a<br />
number of significant incidences of<br />
migrant exploitation surfaced. Many<br />
workers paid large amounts of money,<br />
sometimes as much as $50,000, to<br />
obtain their New Zealand job and<br />
work visa, only to find on their arrival<br />
in New Zealand that there was no<br />
job, or the job was not what they had<br />
signed up for, or that suddenly the<br />
work had dried up.<br />
Immigration NZ has now changed the<br />
rules. The process of accreditation,<br />
Job Check and AEWV was previously<br />
able to be completed within 4-6<br />
weeks. This process can now take<br />
3 months or more. INZ is also now,<br />
finally, undertaking appropriate<br />
verification and checking of all<br />
applications to ensure these are<br />
credible, and supported by suitable<br />
evidence. In other policy changes 90-<br />
day trial periods are no longer allowed<br />
within migrant workers employment<br />
agreements, and AEWVs will now<br />
(normally) be issued for a 5-year<br />
duration. The minimum payrate for an<br />
AEWV to be approved is $29.66 per<br />
hour (the median payrate) but lower<br />
rates can apply for some roles where<br />
there is a sector agreement (eg; care<br />
workforce, hospitality). The previous<br />
Government has signalled that this<br />
median pay would increase to $31.61<br />
per hour in February next year – it<br />
will be interesting to see if the new<br />
National led Government ratifies this<br />
increase or cancels/defers it due to<br />
the cost to employers.<br />
Much of the migrant exploitation is<br />
understood to be associated with<br />
third-party/labour hire employers,<br />
and within the construction sector,<br />
and INZ is tightening policies for<br />
these employers to require evidence<br />
of financial viability, and that their<br />
workforce comprises at least 35% of<br />
New Zealand workers.<br />
INZ is also currently undertaking<br />
audits of (around 16% of) accredited<br />
employers to check they have been<br />
compliant with their accreditation<br />
obligations - including maintenance<br />
of time and wage records, and<br />
completion of settlement information<br />
and Employment NZ modules.<br />
Currently 1,600 employer audits have<br />
been completed with another 1,200<br />
underway. Some 1,500 complaints<br />
have been made against accredited<br />
employers, and 103 employers have<br />
had their accreditation revoked<br />
(many due to business liquidations),<br />
and 23 have had their accreditation<br />
suspended. Accredited employers<br />
should revisit their original<br />
accreditation application to ensure<br />
they are aware of, and up to date with,<br />
their obligations.<br />
INZ is continuing to review the Green<br />
List which lists those roles, and the<br />
credentials required, for in-demand<br />
roles that enable either a straight-toresidence<br />
application or a residence<br />
application to be made after working<br />
in the role for 2 years. Another 17<br />
roles will be added to the Green List<br />
in March <strong>2023</strong> including Corrections<br />
Officer, welder, fitter, metal fabricator<br />
and panel beater, among others.<br />
Congratulations to Hon Erica Stanford,<br />
the new Minister of Immigration. It<br />
is reassuring to now have a minister<br />
who is so passionate, knowledgeable<br />
and capable in dealing with the<br />
immigration portfolio.<br />
For any immigration matter please do<br />
not hesitate to contact the friendly<br />
Pathways team.<br />
By Mary Anne Gill<br />
St Peter’s Head of School Marcus Blackburn in his office. <br />
A<br />
restructure of its admissions,<br />
international and marketing offices<br />
into one directorate will help<br />
maximise the potential of St Peter’s School,<br />
says its Head of School Marcus Blackburn.<br />
He made the comment in response to<br />
rumours circulating in the community<br />
that the school was undertaking a series of<br />
redundancies. The <strong>News</strong> was contacted by<br />
several sources suggesting there were as<br />
many as 12-13 people involved.<br />
Blackburn, who started at the school<br />
earlier this year following the controversial<br />
resignation of his predecessor Dale Burden<br />
in May 2021 amid an investigation into<br />
bullying, denied the rumours.<br />
“It is disappointing to hear (the gossip),”<br />
he said.<br />
“The whole concept of getting rid of people<br />
is regrettable.”<br />
Restructuring was happening in three<br />
departments – admissions, international<br />
and marketing - which currently operate out<br />
of two separate offices enrolling students<br />
into the school.<br />
One is for overseas students and the other<br />
for day and boarding. Bringing marketing in<br />
would clarify what St Peter’s was all about,<br />
said Blackburn.<br />
Staff numbers would go from 10 to seven,<br />
with deployment elsewhere in the school<br />
being actively pursued for “those staff who<br />
wish to remain members of the St Peter’s<br />
team.”<br />
Recruitment is underway for the new<br />
role of Admissions and Marketing head,<br />
who will coordinate all three functions. The<br />
merger made sense and would provide a<br />
key operation and function for the school,<br />
he said.<br />
“We will expect there will be great<br />
collaboration across that team.”<br />
Other staff resigning across the school<br />
and changes to the school’s sport academies<br />
probably led to the rumours.<br />
“I feel as a leader I’m coming in to facilitate<br />
the things we need to do to maximise the<br />
potential of the school.”<br />
The school is piloting a programme next<br />
year from years seven to 10 next year which<br />
would bring sport into the timetable as a<br />
double period every week, in addition to<br />
before and after school.<br />
Sport is currently an elective subject with<br />
some students feeling they could not afford<br />
to do sport so they could preserve their<br />
academic options.<br />
“I care about equity. I want our most<br />
experienced expert sports staff supporting<br />
students across the age levels and at all<br />
Photo: Mary Anne Gill.<br />
teams. If your sport only happens after<br />
school, those staff members have to choose<br />
which teams they work with.”<br />
Blackburn, a former regional development<br />
officer for the Welsh Rugby Union and<br />
the Singapore national rugby sevens coach,<br />
worked under a similar successful system<br />
when he was at Scots College in Sydney from<br />
2009-2015.<br />
Performing arts is another area under<br />
review following the resignation of the<br />
current Director of Performing Arts. The<br />
process around recruiting to that position<br />
had not started yet.<br />
“I’m really confident in their (the staff)<br />
capacity to keep that engine going.<br />
“I really value co-curricular activities at<br />
school,” he said.<br />
It was something he developed during<br />
his time as Assistant Head (Co-curricular)<br />
at Hereford Cathedral School in the United<br />
Kingdom from 2015-2018.<br />
From 2020 to 2022 in Adelaide Blackburn<br />
was deputy headmaster and Head of Senior<br />
School at St Peter’s College – a boys only<br />
Anglican boarding and day school of 1500<br />
students.<br />
St Peter’s in Cambridge has a roll of 1200.<br />
He, wife Tara and sons Jack, 20, and Rory,<br />
17, moved to Cambridge earlier this year.<br />
Tara is a primary school teacher and an<br />
Irish dance teacher.<br />
The first part of the year was one of getting<br />
to know the school and the community,<br />
speaking to people on sport sidelines, being<br />
at events and meeting with Year 13 learning<br />
groups to learn about their experience at St<br />
Peter’s.<br />
“Culture is just integral. I made that<br />
real commitment to the community -<br />
whakawhanaungatanga, to get to know the<br />
people and the place and the rituals, the<br />
tikanga.”<br />
“Failing to do that would have been<br />
missing a real opportunity.”<br />
He coached the St Peter’s under 15 girls’<br />
rugby team and supported a basketball<br />
team.<br />
Using his rugby sevens experience – he<br />
wrote a book 10 years ago called Coaching<br />
Rugby Sevens – he will take charge of the<br />
Hautapu club sevens team.<br />
“I’ve come in as a leader. I do believe that<br />
schools require leaders that pay attention<br />
to school as a workplace and not just a<br />
place for young people to come to learn. I’m<br />
committed to do that. I am here to balance<br />
that support of our staff at the same time as<br />
trying to inspire their performance,” said<br />
Blackburn.