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Migrant workers have called for the unit after being told to “go home” on social media.
Queenstown migrant workers, in a video made by New Zealand-funded Crux Publishing Ltd on Air, have expressed a desire to stay in the city where many had established their home.
Thousands of Queenstown migrant workers are out of work and trapped without money for food or rent due to the Covid-19 crisis.
The press
Downtown Queenstown was devoid of tourists and residents under level 4 Covid-19 restrictions.
Holleh Nowrouz, a migrant worker from the United Kingdom, said that kiwis should not think that “migrant workers are not our problem, they should go home.”
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“The reason this country is my home and that of so many other migrant workers is because of how we feel at home in this country,” he said.
“We really want the opportunity to get out of this wave together and continue working in this country and working to rebuild the economy.
“It would be unfair to turn our backs on migrant workers who have decided to stay. We are going to restart and we will all discover a joint way of how we can fix it.”
Nowrouz had lived in Queenstown for three years and was trying to find ways to stay.
“Covid has felt that the carpet was removed from under us. As much as this has felt like my home for three years, the reality is that it is not written. It is definitely a nervous moment. “
Things
The Queenstown pier is often crowded with riders, street musicians, and tourists. On a perfect fall day during the Covid-19 shutdown period, it is left empty.
Lucy Bateman, a migrant worker from the UK, said it was not easy to “go home”.
“I’ve seen a lot of people write ‘just go home’ on Facebook and things like that. They don’t understand that we have moved here and this is our home. “
Chamber of Commerce executive director Anna Mickell said it had always been a weak position to be a migrant worker on a short-term visa, not just in New Zealand, but anywhere in the world.
Things
The intersection of Shotover St and Camp St in central Queenstown is often the scene of heavy congestion.
“We have to be compassionate … but we have to be real that we are a small country at the bottom of the world and our ability to adequately support people, especially right now, will be limited.”
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult said that of the 9,000 people in the council’s database, about 6,000 immigrants had applied for social assistance.
“We must remember that migrant workers have played an important role in the development of the tourism industry, not only in the lakes of Queenstown, but also in New Zealand. .
“We have to be careful not to turn around and apologize for not needing them anymore. We owe them a debt.”
