The Opposition has criticised remarks from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters regarding immigration, calling them “cynical politicking” and from a “decades-old playbook”.

In an interview with the Herald about NZ First’s immigration stance, Peters spoke of his concern with the number of migrants entering New Zealand and what he referred to as an “alarming development” overseas that he believed Kiwis were “acutely aware” of.

“They have seen the international circumstances of careless immigration policies transforming cities, changing cities, changing centuries of development and social life, and people feel at risk because of it,” he said.

Peters mentioned several European countries, including England, where he believed there were concerns about “people who have come there who don’t salute the flag, don’t salute the values of the country, don’t salute the people who were there before them, don’t respect the right to have your own religion”.

He believed New Zealand was experiencing similar issues and suggested anyone who doesn’t want to subscribe to the country’s “values” should not migrate here.

The remarks have not gone down well with two of the Opposition parties.

The Greens’ immigration spokesman Ricardo Menendez March said Peters’ “tired, decades-old playbook of blaming migrants” was a “distraction” from other actions the coalition Government had taken, such as changes to pay equity rules and tightening emergency housing settings, which critics argue has led to an increase in homelessness.

“We aren’t waiting for [Prime Minister Christopher] Luxon to show leadership and shut down this divisive rhetoric, which is why we are fighting to create 40,000 new jobs through a Greens Job Guarantee, build enough public housing and restore pay equity claims,” the Green MP told the Herald.

“We will also ensure every migrant worker is treated with respect and is free from exploitation.”

The Greens' Ricardo Menéndez March was critical of the comments. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Phil Twyford from Labour told Newstalk ZB it was “cynical politicking” by Peters.

“Instead of focusing on the things that I think are important to New Zealanders, like the cost of living, they are resorting to imported culture wars that, frankly, New Zealand just doesn’t need,” Twyford said.

While he said there was always more to be done to improve the system, Twyford said New Zealand “is completely reliant on immigration for our economy to work and for our society to work”.

“Migrants make a hugely positive contribution to this country. They enrich our communities. It’s not helpful for politicians, for their own political purposes, to be trying to divide the community and turn one group of people against another.”

Luxon on Sunday said it was important immigration was linked to “our economic agenda and our ability to support immigration with good infrastructure”.

“Those are the three things that have to come together for any country, and certainly here in New Zealand as well,” the Prime Minister said.

“We have accelerated pathways for residency through the Green List for when we have got job shortages that we desperately need to get into our communities.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said immigration needed to be linked to the country's economic agenda. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Peters told the Herald NZ First believed immigration should not be used as an “excuse for our failure to train, skill and employ our own people”.

That was one of the party’s founding principles 32 years ago and remained “as much a principle now as it was back then”, Peters said.

“We, like wise countries, have always believed we should be training and employing our own people first and not use immigration as an excuse not to do that. That is still our plan.”

He said New Zealand still didn’t have strong enough initiatives to “take people from secondary school into employment” and stressed the need for appropriate infrastructure to be in place to support migrants.

“There was a time when we were getting people from around the world putting down £10 to get here. They were coming to a job and a house and infrastructure, schooling, everything. Teachers and doctors and all sorts of people were coming here.”

In the year to May 2025, there was a net migration gain of 15,000, driven by 140,000 arrivals and offset by 125,000 departures.

The number of arrivals is down from a peak of roughly 235,000 in late 2023, but still above the long-term average of 119,000. However, due to the large number of departures, the net gain is below the average of nearly 28,000.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.