Volume 29 Issue 2 2014

Journal of the Sociological Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand

Volume 29 Issue 2 2014 Editors: Charles Crothers (School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, AUT) Robert Webb (Department of Sociology, University of Auckland) Objective: To foster a refereed journal to disseminate and promote research and thought that has, as its objective, the clarification and development of theoretically informed research in sociology and related disciplines, with a predominant, though not exclusive, concern with New Zealand. Contributors: For information on the contribution of articles, see Instructions for Contributors on the Journal website. For further information about the Journal go to https://sites.google.com/site/nzsociology/journal Books for review to: Book Review Editor, New Zealand Sociology, c/- School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, AUT University PO Box 92006, Auckland 1142. [email protected] ISSN 1173-1036 (Online) © 2014 The Editors, New Zealand Sociology Opinions expressed in the Journal are those of the individual contributors and no responsibility is accepted for them by the Editors or SAANZ. The Journal is abstracted in the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences and Sociological Abstracts, and full text is carried by Socindex and the Australia and New Zealand reference centre, and the RMIT Press’ Informit.

New Zealand Sociology Volume 29 Issue 2 2014

Contents Editorial: 4 The Sociology of the New Zealand Diaspora: Editorial Charles Crothers Articles: 11 Elderly Chinese Migrants, Intergenerational Reciprocity, and Quality of Life Jingjing Zhang 31

Panic about Crime in New Zealand’s Rural Paradise John Buttle & James Rodgers

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Pacific Insoluble: Contemporary issues in New Zealand’s refugee quota policy Murdoch Stephens

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What you see is not always what you get: The importance of symbolic representations in intersectional research Shelagh Mooney, Irene Ryan & Candice Harris

Comments and Research Notes 100 Comment: The Data Rankings Business Marilyn Waring 109

Insights from the Census: Sex Ratios, Partnering, and Caring for an Ageing Population Paul Callister and Robert Didham

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Emeritus Professor Cluny Macpherson Paul Spoonley

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Recent Sociology Prize and Grant Winners Philippa Howden-Chapman Peter Davis Gerry Cotterell Alison Jones

Reviews 2

Contents

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Stringer, R. (2014) Knowing Victims: Feminism, Agency and Victim Politics in Neoliberal Times. Reviewed by Chris Brickell

128 Yuniya Kawamura (2012) Fashioning Japanese subcultures Reviewed by Sharon Harvey 133

Bronwyn Hayward (2012) Children, citizenship and Environment, Nurturing a democratic imagination in a changing world Reviewed by Emma Davies

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Neal Wallace (2014) When the Farm Gates Opened: The impact of Rogernomics on Rural New Zealand. Reviewed by Claudia Bell

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Tie, Warwick (2014) In the Place of Utopia: Affect and Transformative Ideas. Reviewed by Morgan Hamlin

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Margunn Bjørnholt and Ailsa McKay (eds.) (2014) Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics Reviewed by Prue Hyman

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Woodward, Alistair and Tony Blakely (2014) The Healthy Country? A history of life and death in New Zealand Reviewed by Peter Davis

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Beaglehole, Ann (2013) Refuge New Zealand: A nation’s response to refugees and asylum seekers. Reviewed by Louise Humpage

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Spoonley, Paul (2009) Ranginui: Sheltering the people: Mata Toa: The Life and Times of Ranginui Walker Reviewed by Georgina Stewart

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Vicki Carpenter & Sue Osborne (2014) Twelve Thousand Hours – Education and Poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand Reviewed by Camille Nakhid

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Shorter Reviews: Social Cohesion, Community Organisations and Social Measurement Reviewed by Charles Crothers

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The Sociology of the New Zealand Diaspora: Editorial Charles Crothers The strictures of ‘methodological nationalism’ bring home the point that the residents of any country include many not born in that country while many born there may be found distributed around the world. Sometimes it seems in these cosmopolitan times that the principle that anyone can choose to live in their country of choice has come to realisation. However, some critics of the massive sociological literature on globalisation have pointed out that many of the flows which cross national boundaries are usually still relatively small. The study of immigrants to New Zealand is very well established – and recently summarised in the volume by Spoonley and Bedford (2013). However, I would like to explore in this editorial the extent to which sociological study of New Zealanders needs to – and readily can - encompass those living abroad including their links with New Zealand. It has been bruited that New Zealand has the largest (or at least one of the largest) diaspora around the world. Statistics NZ has gently attempted to rebut this in a small entry on ‘myths’ calling for more research. They comment: On any given day, there are roughly 80,000 New Zealand citizens out of the country on short overseas trips. Around 45,000 citizens a year leave on a permanent or long-term (PLT) basis. Many of these PLT travellers will eventually return, some bringing their overseas-born spouses and children with them. Others will stay overseas, with various degrees of attachment to New Zealand. Of our newer migrants, some will stay and gain New Zealand citizenship, while others will leave. Net migration of course varies very considerably across the years. Official and public policy concern with emigration has a long history with the New Zealand Planning Council commissioning research in 1980 (Barrington & Davies, 1980). Much more recently, Glass and Choy (2001) looked at whether the data at that point supported a Brain Drain or Brain Exchange model while Bryant and Law (2004) developed data on New Zealand’s diaspora. See also Bedford (2003); Butcher (2010) Escutia (2007) and Gamlen (2007). Policy concerns include what damage leaving New Zealanders may cause their homeland (especially ‘brain drain) and also the potential for return migration. Muldoon

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nastily quipped that the migration of New Zealanders to Australia raised IQ on both sides of Tasman! These estimates can be updated and extended with recourse to the OECD database which pulls together material from census and labour-force survey data from around eh world. The OECD data showed that overseas New Zealanders had increased from c420k around 2000 to 480k around 2005. The two genders have similar proportions and whereas some one third of emigrants are tertiaryeducated (one quarter of these overseas) and far larger than the home country a similar proportion has only primary education – although this seems hard to believe and may include the ‘no response’ answers. The emigration rate (in relation to the New Zealand population (including foreign-born) is c12 which rises to just over 15 if the latter are excluded. The emigration rates of people at the three levels of education covered are similar. It is also possible to obtain information on industry, occupation, level of educational qualifications and field of study. However, given the effort required to assemble census data across the world and process it the portrait of expatriates is always going to lag considerably. StatsNZ points out (nd) that the OECD data is based on where people are born and that were the definition to be extended to include citizenship as well numbers would be higher. New Zealand-born in Australia, at least, were some 316k circa 2005 whereas the estimate at that time for the number of New Zealand citizens living in Australia is 600,000: thus the born-New Zealanders are some 75%. Factoring up this worldwide would yield an estimate of around 800,000 and even more would be included if the definition was to be extended to those below age 15. Other information can be gleaned from the massive Gallup international database with its thousands of respondents, especially when aggregated over several years. These two main sources are nicely and conveniently spliced together in the Profile of Immigrant Populations (2012) which provide country portraits. The Gallup survey shows that (despite its size rendering it invisible to many) New Zealand is a popular migration destination. Net migration potential gain pre 2010 was 184% putting us among the very top countries. But this had fallen a few years later to c134%1. As elsewhere those interested tend to be the well-educated and youth. On the other side of the ledger some 13% of New Zealanders are interested in moving overseas. 1

Those wanting to come – those wanting to leave divided by population.

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Tracing the impact of these overseas-located New Zealanders on New Zealand is more difficult. Very few vote, although some data on this can be elicited from electoral returns (cf. Crothers, 2014). Whereas some 24k voted from overseas in 2011 by 2014 this had risen to 36k. Examining the electorates they voted in indicates where these overseas voters (presumably last) came from in New Zealand. A range of official data-sources have been used to indicate the numbers of leavers and their characteristics, usefully summarised by Papadopoulus (2012). Leavers tend to comprise something of the order of 25-30% of many cohorts, with something of a similar 25% returning over a 7 year period. Leaving is less likely with age, if female, having studied certain fields, if qualification is not at a high level and if student loan debt lower. An analysis based on the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development study found that “..compared to non-emigrants, emigrants had higher IQ scores, were better qualified, leaner and fitter, and had happier and less stress-prone personalities” disproving Muldoon’s jibe. Not surprisingly most New Zealand migration research is very largely aimed at migrants resident in New Zealand, and after the early foray in 1980 and a trickle of mainly census- and official statistics-based studies, survey and other field research began only about a decade ago. The Kea survey has probed more deeply into the diaspora, although it is difficult to gauge the extent to which it is representative beyond those New Zealanders already with considerable connections. Indeed its changing contours in each of the three rounds of study are concerning. Surveys are timed to coincide with New Zealand censuses and have received official support and interest (including a Ministry of Economic Development evaluation of effectiveness since they provide funding). The New Zealand government is interested in what leverage is possible to New Zealand’s advantage from the links those in the diaspora might provide, and perhaps too, to assess the likelihood of return migration rates changing. After all, New Zealanders overseas comprise a large reservoir of potential population which might be overwhelming were they all to suddenly return. The 2013 round was conducted by Colmar Brunton. The Kea database of some 30,000 were emailed and social media also employed to bring it to potential respondent’s attention while snowballing was encouraged. Questions cover where the expats are living, their reasons for being overseas, industries worked in and incomes, qualifications, views on New Zealand’s future and 6

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connections with New Zealand, future migration plans and where they might settle were they to return. It is particularly interesting to obtain views from these well-placed respondents on New Zealand’s attractions and detractions. Gibson (2009) is concerned that the Kea surveys are not representative and reports on the New Zealand component of what is claimed as a unique survey which tracks worldwide the best and brightest academic performers from three Pacific countries (New Zealand, PNG and Tonga) - covering emigrants, return migrants, and non-migrants from amongst the very highly skilled. Another interesting research avenue is to trace collaborations between New Zealanders and those overseas: one area where that is possible to investigate this is research collaborations. Waltman, Tijssen & van Eck (2011) measured the distances between international collaborators and found New Zealand was most distantly placed. Other measures show that New Zealand scientific work is highly collaborative: nearly 50% of collaborations being international. Some studies of business operations in New Zealand (notably the StatsNZ Business Operations Survey) enumerate some of the ways in which New Zealand firms are linked to overseas firms and/or markets. The New Zealand diaspora takes many social forms, and several of these have particular age, social class and ethnic patterns: - OE, overland backpacking, - return migration (including ‘parachute families’), - volunteering, - labour schemes, and study etc. The literature on ‘Overseas Experience’ (OE) - especially that focused on London - has increased with the recent release of two substantial books. Jude Wilson’s (2013 ) Flying Kiwis provides a history of OE based on oral accounts from several hundred travellers, across seven decades of OE, thus showing how the OE has changed over time and how it has been shaped by the transport, media and other networks that have supported it. Barnes (2012) looks at a wider range of links between New Zealand and its metropolitan centre – London – over a longer period of time including such topics as “Antipodean soldiers and writers, meat carcasses and moa, British films and Kiwi tourists”. Other studies have also explored the cultural experiences and rituals that make OE more than a working holiday and often as a rite de passage. – see Wilson et al. (2009). One line of interpretation is to cast the young travellers as ‘secular pilgrims’ who re-enact familiar rituals of departure, arrival and return embarked on a journey with metaphorical resonances, involving the collection 7


of narratives of adventure and returning with tokens of place. See also Inkson & Myers (2003). Besides London, considerable attention has been to New Zealanders in Australia including a large study of the Maori population (Hamer, 2007, 2008). George and Rodriguez (2009) have studied hybrid youth identities in the Maori/Pacific Island diaspora in Sydney, while Green, Power & Jang (2008) and Green & Power (2010) have looked at New Zealander trans-Tasman migrants’ explanations for their move and at the identities they adopt in Australia. Hugo & Graeme (2004) examined characteristics of New Zealanders in Australia, Tait (1984) provided a census profile New Zealanders in Sydney: and for an earlier review of international flows see also Lowe, 1990. Attention has also been afforded New Zealand expats in Europe –– see Boyce & Frendehl (2007) who interviewed a couple of dozen respondents. Other studies have looked at Volunteer overseas development workers (Hudson & Inkson, 2006) and expatriates more generally (Jackson et al., 2005) and Inkson et al (2004). ‘Parachute’ families (in which the family was established in New Zealand but the income earners returned to Asia where their jobs continued received considerable attention a decade ago – see Aye & Guerin (2001); Ho (2002, 2007) and Huang, Yeo & Lam (2008). In sum, a (somewhat) globalised world New Zealand is hardly an isolate but is severely interpenetrated by overseas influences and in turn is deeply implicated in many other countries: our boundaries are constantly breached. Moreover our population is very mobile within the boundaries and outside and this again widens some of the perspectives from those that assume rather too restrictive mobilise. Interestingly a considerable stockpile of social research and policy discussion (much of both centred on the early and mid-2000s) has been built up but many yawning gaps remain and needs for updating have arisen. References:

Aye, A. & B. Guerin (2001) Astronaut families: A review of their characteristics, impact on families and implications for practice in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Psychology 30 (1): 9-15 Barnes, Felicity (2012) New Zealand’s London: A Colony and its Metropolis Auckland University Press Barrington, Rosemary and Judith Davey (1980) Migrants and their motives: a study of migration from New Zealand. Wellington: New Zealand Planning Council. Bedford, Richard (2003) New Zealanders in the age of migration: an ignored policy dimension? New Zealand population review 29 (1): 41-58

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Crothers Boyce, Valerie & Frendehl Warner (2007) “Forth and Back: New Zealand Diaspora to and Return from the EU: A Preliminary Report” National Centre for Research on Europe. http://www.eusaap.org.nz/docs/panel07/Frendehl%2520NZ-EU_Diaspora.pdf Bryant, John and David Law (2004) New Zealand’s diaspora an Overseas-born Population New Zealand Treasury Working Paper 04/13 Butcher, A. (2010) Demography, Diaspora and Diplomacy - New Zealand-Asia.Challenges New Zealand Population Review 36: 137-157. Crothers, C. H. (2014) “Immigrants and Voting in New Zealand” in Jack Vowles (ed.) The New Electoral Politics in NZ: the significance of the 2011 election, 161-186. Wellington: IGPS, VUW Escutia, J. (2007) Public Policies Regarding New Zealand's Diaspora. Political Science 59 (1): 73-78 doi: 10.1177/003231870705900108 Gamlen, A (2007) Making Hay While the Sun Shines: envisioning New Zealand’s Statediaspora relations. Policy Quarterly 3 (4): 12- 21 ips.ac.nz/publications/files/b64fdae184e.pdf George, Jim & Rodriguez, Lena (2009) Hybrid youth identity in the Maori/Pacific Island diaspora in Australia: a study of young urban Polynesian men in Sydney New Zealand Sociology 24 (1): 1-21 Glass, Hayden and Wai Kin Choy (2001) Brain Drain or Brain Exchange? Treasury Working Paper 01/22 Green, Alison E; Power, Mary R & Jang, Deannah M. (2008) Trans-Tasman migration: New Zealanders' explanations for their move. New Zealand Geographer 64 (1): 34-45 Green, Alison and Mary Power (2010) Migrating close to home: New Zealand migrants' identity in Australia Peter Lang Hamer, Paul (2008) One in Six? The Rapid Growth of the Māori Population in Australia. New Zealand Population Review 33/34: 153-176. Hamer, Paul (2007) Māori in Australia survey and report Te Puni Kōkiri Herbst, Pauline (2009) Kiwis abroad. New Zealand Management 56 (9): 42-44, 46. Hugo, Graeme (2004) New Zealanders in Australia in 2001. New Zealand Population Review 30 (1&2): 61-92 Gibson, John (2009) 'Why do most of NZ’s best and brightest leave and what brings some of them back?' Motu Public Policy Seminar, February Huang, S.; BSA Yeoh & T. Lam (2008) Asian transnational families in transition: The liminality of simultaneity. International migration 46 (4): 3-13. Ho, Elsie (2007) Chinese "Astronaut" Families in New Zealand: Evidence from Census Data in Chee Beng Tan, Colin Storey, Julia Zimmerman (eds.) Chinese Overseas: Migration, Research and Documentation Chinese University Press: chap. 5 Ho, Elsie (2002) Multi-local residence, transnational networks: Chinese 'astronaut' families in New Zealand Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 11 (1): 145-164. Hudson S. & K. Inkson (2006) Volunteer overseas development workers: the hero's adventure and personal transformation. Career Development International 11 (4): 304-320 Inkson, K., S. Carr, M. Edwards, J. Hooks, D. Jackson, K. Thorn, N. Allfree (2004) From brain drain to talent flow: Views of Kiwi expatriates. University of Auckland Business Review 6 (2): 29-39 Inkson, K. & BA. Myers (2003) The big OE”: self-directed travel and career development. Career Development International 8 (4): 170-181. Jackson, DJR.; SC. Carr, M. Edwards, K. Thorn, N. Allfree, J. Hooks & K. Inkson (2005) Exploring the Dynamics of New Zealand's Talent Flow. New Zealand Journal of Psychology 34 (2): 110-116. 9

New Zealand Sociology Volume 29 Issue 2 2014 Lowe, R J (1990) International migration with special reference to the migration of New Zealanders. Demographic Trends: 17-26 Moore David and Bastiaan van der Scheer (2009) Kea evaluation: Final report. Wellington: Ministry of Economic Development http://www.med.govt.nz/aboutus/publications/publications-by-topic/evaluation-of-government-programmes/keareport.pdf/ OECD (2012) Connecting with Emigrants: A Global Profile of Diasporas. OECD Publishing.http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264177949-en Spoonley, Paul and Richard Bedford (2013) Welcome to Our World? Immigration and the Reshaping of New Zealand. Dunmore StatsNZ (nd) At least 1 Million New Zealanders live overseas http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/mythbusters/1million-kiwislive-overseas.aspx Tait, David (1984) New Zealanders in Sydney: a census profile. New Zealand Population Review 10 (3):55-63 Waltman, Ludo; Robert J.W. Tijssen (2011) Globalisation of science in kilometres. Journal of Infometrics 5: 574-582. Wilson Jude; David Fischer and Kevin Moore (2009) The OE goes ‘home’: Cultural aspects of a working holiday experience Tourist Studies 9: 3-21 Wilson, Jude (2014) Flying Kiwis: A history of the OE. Otago University Press

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Elderly Chinese Migrants, Intergenerational Reciprocity, and Quality of Life Jingjing Zhang

Abstract This article explores the relationship between family support dynamics and the quality of life of elderly Chinese migrants through the analysis of 35 qualitative interviews conducted in Auckland, New Zealand. Findings show that intergenerational reciprocity is embedded in Chinese migrant families for pragmatic purposes. Elderly parents tend to provide more support to their children than they receive, especially in co-residential households. The imbalanced reciprocity impacts negatively on their quality of life. In contrast, living apart from adult children helps to maintain balanced reciprocity, independence, and a better quality of life. Taking the elderly Chinese migrants’ perspective, this article contributes to sociological debates about the changing dynamics of family support, and their impact on elderly migrants’ quality of life. Introduction Statistics in New Zealand show that there has been a considerable increase in elderly Chinese migrants who have reunited with their children in the past few years (New Zealand Department of Labour, 2011, 2013). Some elderly migrants come expressly to provide childcare assistance or domestic help to their children’s households on a temporary or long-term basis, while others migrate to pursue a better quality of life with more family support. Being sponsored by their adult children, these elderly migrants are regarded as ‘dependent’ parents who rely on the social and material support provided by their adult children. Family support is therefore considered as one of the most crucial elements to their quality of life post-migration (Litwin, 1995; Tsang, Liamputtong, & Pierson, 2004). However, dynamics within the family are subject to change – in terms of family structure and intergenerational relationships – due to the migration process. The culture and values of the host society and the mobility of family

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members have created new dynamics in Chinese migrant families. With regard to these new circumstances, little research has been conducted in New Zealand from the perspective of elderly migrants themselves about their post-migration lives and their family relationships, which is not consistent with the increasing number of this cohort. This article focuses on the relationship between family support and the perceptions of quality of life of elderly Chinese migrants. Drawing on New Zealand-based interviews, I trace the trajectory of their migration and settlement processes in terms of motivations and decision-making. I also address the changes of their living arrangements and the support they provide to, and receive from, their adult children. Through these analyses, this article explains how the dynamics of intergenerational reciprocity influence the elderly migrants’ perceptions of quality of life. Literature Review Existing studies in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada show that a high quality of life for elderly Chinese migrants is closely associated with perceptions of good health, secure finance, meaningful roles and sufficient support from family and ethnic communities (Bajekal, Blane, Grewal, Karlsen, & Nazroo, 2004; Chappell, 2003; Lai, Tsang, Chappell, & Lai, 2007; Remennick, 2003; Walker, 2005). Among those elements, family support has been given particular attention because the family is viewed as one of the core elements of Chinese culture (Chappell & Kusch, 2007; Chen, Wilkins, & Ng, 1996; D. Ip, Lui, & Chui, 2007). Scholars identify intergenerational co-residence as the dominant living arrangement within Chinese migrant families because of the relatively low socio-economic conditions of the families and the culture of filial piety (Chappell, 2003, 2005; Chappell & Kusch, 2007; Gee, 2000; D. Ip et al., 2007; Shardlow et al., 2011). Within co-residential households, adult children believe they can provide better support to their elderly parents, especially when they move to a new environment facing language and culture barriers (D. Ip et al., 2007; Pyke, 2004). However, for elderly parents, long-term co-residence may increase the risk of being isolated in family by heavy domestic responsibilities, and feeling lonely and depressed (Treas & Marcum, 2011; Treas & Mazumdar, 2002). Studies show that an increasing number of elderly parents want to break away from the co-residential arrangement in order to pursue a sense of freedom and to avoid family conflicts (Gee, 2000; D. Ip et al., 2007; Lan, 2002; Li, 12

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2011). This trend indicates that intergenerational co-residence may be not desired by many elderly Chinese migrants. Hence, more studies are needed to explore the intergenerational dynamics within their households, and how that relates to the elderly migrants’ quality of life. The positive connection between receiving support and quality of life has long been established, while research also finds that providing support to others also contributes to a good quality of life (Krause, Herzog, & Baker, 1992). For elderly people, being able to provide support not only fosters trust and intimacy in social relationships, but also reinforces a sense of usefulness and fulfilment (Bowling, 2005). Studies in New Zealand and Australia find that elderly Chinese migrants have made significant contributions to their children’s households by looking after grandchildren and assisting with domestic chores (Da, 2003; Li, 2011; Ochiltree, 2006). Those elderly parents therefore feel valued in helping their adult children to settle in the host society (Ochiltree, 2006). While acknowledging that both receiving and providing support could positively contribute to elderly people’s quality of life, researchers also note the importance of maintaining balanced reciprocity during the process of support exchange (Antonucci & Ajrouch, 2007; Kim, Hisata, Kai, & Lee, 2000). Studies show that when people receive less support than they provide, they tend to feel burdened and frustrated, which could cause distress and lower an individual’s satisfaction with the relationship (Davey & Eggebeen, 1998; Rook, 1987). On the other hand, receiving more support than they are able to give back could create a sense of being indebted to others. Such feeling also has a negative impact on people’s well-being (Buunk & Schaufeli, 1999). Therefore, the study of the relationship between social support and quality of life should discuss not only what types and levels of support has been provided or received, but also how the support has been exchanged. Theoretical Framework and Methodology This article relies on an interpretive framework that quality of life of elderly people is not simply influenced by the amount of support they receive from others, but determined by the dynamics of support exchange between them and other support providers. Antonucci (1985) has stated that reciprocal support exchange is important for the perception of well-being and overall satisfaction with the social support network. Blau (1964) argued from the standpoint of social exchange theory that individuals have an inherent interest in maintaining 13


a balance between inputs and outputs in order to maintain their attractiveness in transactions. Therefore, reciprocity is not only a pattern found in social behaviours which ensures the stability of social relationships, but also a motive for individuals to exchange support (Schwarz, Trommsdorff, Zheng, & Shi, 2010). In addition, this article draws on perceived, rather than objective social support and quality of life. As Hupcey (1998: 1234) has suggested, “perceptions… are extremely influential in determining the satisfaction with and the outcome of the support”. Antonucci (1985) has also noted that the circumstances requiring social support, the levels and types of support, and the satisfaction with the support received are closely related to and influenced by an individual’s subjective perceptions. “These perceptions are based not only on what the recipient feels is needed versus what is actually given, but also on what the provider perceives is needed by the recipient” (Hupcey, 1998: 1238). The interaction between the two sets of perceptions influences the quality of support exchange. Similarly, people’s evaluation of their quality of life also depends largely on their subjective perceptions of lived experiences and living circumstances (Bowling, 2005; World Health Organization Quality of Life Group, 1997). For the elderly migrants, their experience of moving to and living in different societal and cultural environments can exert a significant impact on their perceptions of post-migration quality of life. Informed by the conceptual framework, qualitative methodology was employed in this study. During November 2011 and May 2012, 35 semi-structured in-depth interviews were completed with elderly Chinese migrants in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. ‘Elderly Chinese migrants’ in this research refers to those who had migrated from mainland China, aged 60 years and over and had been living in New Zealand for over three years. The age of 60 years and over was chosen because the official retirement age in China is 60 for men, and 50 or 55 for women depending on their occupations. The three years or more living experience in New Zealand ensures that the participants had sufficient knowledge of the host society, as well as their post-migration experiences. Several approaches, including personal networks, advertisements in Chinese associations/community centres and snowballing were employed to recruit participants with various social and demographic backgrounds. The 35 participants, ranging in age from 64 to 82, were all New Zealand permanent residents or citizens. Sixteen were males and 19 were females, with 14

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the average ages of 74.2 and 65.2 years, respectively. Of the 35 elderly people, 20 migrated to New Zealand before 2000, while 8 were relative newcomers after 2005. The length of time they had stayed in New Zealand varied from three to 24 years, with the average of about 11 years. Compared to men, more women migrated at a younger age – eight females and two males came to New Zealand in their 50s. A pre-designed schedule was used during the interviews, and two language options – English or Mandarin Chinese – were provided. Except for one professional male, who chose to be interviewed in English, the other 34 participants were interviewed in Chinese. During the interviews, participants were encouraged to speak in their own words about their migration reasons, their settlement process, the difficulties they had encountered in daily lives, the intergenerational relationships, as well as their perceptions of quality of life in New Zealand. Interview transcripts were analysed in their original language by using thematic analysis approach, and only illustrative verbatim comments of the participants were later translated into English during the reporting phases. The post-analysis translation approach helps capture “explicit and implicit meanings embedded in the Asian language, as well culturally specific expressions and concepts” (Suh, Kagan, & Strumpf, 2009: 198). Based on the interview data, patterns have emerged with regard to the migration decision-making, living arrangements, and the intergenerational support exchange, pointing to an on-going, dynamic process of pursuing a better quality of life as an independent elderly migrant in a foreign land. The rest of the article is structured under the above three themes. Findings and arguments rely mainly on verbatim quotes from the participants. Some previous studies are also referred to for the purpose of comparison or discussion. Obligation, Negotiation and Decision-making Reunifying with their adult children and fulfilling grandparental obligations were two prevalent motivations for my participants to migrate to New Zealand. Their migration process was usually negotiated between the generations. Young Chinese migrants in New Zealand often encouraged their elderly parents to come to provide childcare assistance, to experience the Western lifestyle and to share the benefits of life in New Zealand. Nine of my participants expressed clearly that, although they had not initially intended to migrate, their strong sense of family obligation greatly impacted their decision, especially when their adult children were experiencing post-migration difficulties. 15


Many young migrants recently arriving in New Zealand encounter workfamily balance issues and find their lives tougher than in China (Ip & Friesen, 2001; Meares, Ho, Peace, & Spoonley, 2010). Within New Zealand’s ‘liberal’ welfare regime (Esping-Andersen, 1990), migrant parents need to work harder and longer hours to establish themselves in the new country and to qualify for government subsidies for childcare. Many face difficulties finding suitable and affordable childcare services or informal support (Baker, 2011; New Zealand Government, 2006; Work and Income New Zealand, 2012). Therefore, a considerable proportion of Chinese migrants sponsored the immigration of their own parents to New Zealand with the intention that the elderly would offer care for their grandchildren and help with domestic tasks while the young couples work. Nineteen of my participants described the migration as a win-win solution for the family. Their adult children could receive practical help while the elderly migrants had a chance to reunite with children and enjoy the relatively good environment and climate of New Zealand. A female participant, who migrated in 2008 when she was 63, said: My son and daughter-in-law had a new born baby. They couldn’t afford to hire a baby-sitter, and they both want to work. So, they wanted my husband and me to come to help. You know, New Zealand is a good place for older people. Our immigration is good for them [my son’s family], as well as for us [my husband and myself]. It is a win-win situation. This quote reveals that the migration of elderly parents was a part of the plan to maximise benefit for the extended family. Reciprocity was embedded in the whole process of migration and settlement, and later became a key factor in their family relationships. Although intergenerational negotiations played an important role in the migration process, negotiation between the elderly couples themselves also influenced the decision-making. Some participants found it very difficult to make a decision because there was a disagreement with their spouse. Most elderly migrants in this study were middle-class retirees who were relatively prosperous in their homes in China. Migration for them meant giving up their stable lives and living away from their long-established personal relationships. For example, a 73 year old female participant said that she had a heated discussion with her husband about their own migration after two of their three children had come to New Zealand. 16

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I insisted that we [my husband and I] should apply for permanent residency so that we can travel frequently and freely between China and New Zealand to see our children and grandchildren. But he [my husband] didn’t want to migrate because he thought migration was meaningless for people at our age. Yes, our life was very good and stable in China. Eventually, after weighing up various factors, the husband agreed to compromise at the expense of his established and stable status in China and migrated with his wife to New Zealand in 2002. There were clear gender differences in migration decision-making. Women showed a stronger willingness than their husbands to migrate for the sake of their children’s needs. As previous literature has established, mothers and grandmothers were usually the main caregivers in the family (Musil, Warner, Stoller, & Andersen, 2004; National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2004, p. 47). Young skilled migrants, who were eager to get domestic help, tended to ask their mothers rather than their fathers. Therefore, elderly women were more likely to shoulder heavier family burdens than their husbands and to be constrained by their adult children. As demonstrated above, most participants in my study typically migrated with a family role and obligation defined by, and rooted in, the Chinese culture. The defined grandparental role eventually led to a result that elderly Chinese migrants tended to arrange their post-migration lives around the needs of their children and grandchildren. In return, they expect to receive commensurate support from their adult children and to enjoy their retirement in New Zealand. The dynamics of intergenerational support exchange appeared to have great impact on the quality of life of elderly Chinese migrants. Living Arrangements, Intergenerational Reciprocity and Quality of Life Many studies have identified that living arrangements have an impact on the well-being of elderly migrants and their families, as well as their reliance upon social support (Lei, Strauss, Tian, & Zhao, 2011; Wilmoth, 2001). The common types of living arrangements by elderly migrants include living independently (with or without a spouse), living with children, living with relatives, and living with non-relatives (Edmonston & Lee, 2012). Studies conducted in Canada suggest that the choices of living arrangements of elderly Chinese migrants are usually influenced by their cultural preferences and individual characteristics, for instance, financial status, English language ability, education, gender, and age (Edmonston & Lee, 2012; Gee, 2000). 17


Living arrangements, however, are not decisions based only on elderly migrants’ personal circumstances. My interview data show that the dynamics within the migrant families and intergenerational relationships also have a strong influence on their choice of living arrangements. From this point of view, the quality of life of elderly migrants was not simply influenced by their living arrangements per se, but by the intergenerational dynamics behind the living arrangement. Therefore, I identify intergenerational reciprocity as a key element which explains why different types of living arrangements can result in different perceptions of quality of life. Given the family dynamics focus, I divide the living arrangements of my participants into two categories – living with adult children and living apart from adult children. A large majority of elderly Chinese migrants in my study had experienced changes in living arrangements since their migration to New Zealand. Most of them co-resided with their adult children at the early stage of settlement, but later moved out of their children’s homes. The duration of intergenerational co-residence varied in different families according to the needs of children and grandchildren and the relationships among family members. When the interviews were conducted, ten participants (six males, four females) were co-residing with their children and grandchildren, while 25 (ten males, 15 females) were living apart from their adult children. Levels of intergenerational reciprocity were found to be closely related to living arrangements. Most of the participants who co-resided with their adult children would turn to their children for support, be it practical, financial, informational or emotional. As shown in Table 1, 90 per cent of them relied on their adult children for practical and informational support, half of them received financial support from their adult children, and all of them relied on their children for emotional support. In comparison, a smaller proportion of those who lived apart from their children relied on support from their adult children. Eighty per cent of them reported that they had asked for practical support from their adult children, and 88 per cent relied on their children for emotional support. Only 28 per cent of them turned to their children for financial and informational support. Living apart from their adult children, these participants preferred to rely on themselves for their daily routine, and asked their children for help only when necessary (for instance, when they needed to see a doctor or to do some heavy duties).

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Zhang Table 1: Support from Adult Children by Living Arrangements Living arrangements Intergenerational co-residence

Living apart from adult children

(N=10)

(N=25)

Practical support

9 (90%)

20 (80%)

Financial support

5 (50%)

7 (28%)

Informational support

9 (90%)

7 (28%)

10 (100%)

22 (88%)

Types of support from adult children

Emotional support

The ten participants who co-resided with their adult children reported that they took responsibility for almost all the domestic chores within the household, including cooking, cleaning, and childcare. The rationale behind such a mode of support exchange was that by shouldering domestic chores, the older family members could help the young migrants to focus on their work, and the elderly would enjoy close bonds with children and grandchildren. On the other hand, the 25 participants who lived apart from their adult children had a comparatively lower frequency of exchange support with their adult children. They looked after their grandchildren only occasionally, and provided a small amount of domestic help in their adult children’s households. According to these participants, this low frequency of support exchange was made possible due to support from outside the family. They were more capable and willing than their co-residential counterparts to look for informational support and companionship from neighbours, friends and Chinese communities, and to utilise resources from the host society. Imbalanced Reciprocity in Co-residential households Imbalanced reciprocity in co-residential households was commonly experienced by my participants. Almost all my participants had experienced intergenerational co-residence after they migrated to New Zealand. Co-residing with their children and grandchildren, my participants provided extensive support to the younger generations. However, more than one-third of my participants believed that the support they received was not commensurate to the support they gave. This perceived imbalance in reciprocity undermined

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family relationships, and subsequently decreased the elderly migrants’ perceptions of quality of life. Providing Support to Children and Grandchildren The major support given by elderly parents to their children’s households included providing child care and domestic assistance. My participants had spent six years on average looking after their grandchildren. Co-residential living arrangements usually turned the elderly parents into ‘full-time’ caregivers in the family. Most participants reported that they ‘looked after their grandchildren for 24 hours every day’, ‘took grandchildren to and from school’, and ‘did almost all the domestic chores’. Generally, grandmothers performed more housework and provided more childcare than their husbands if the elderly couple co-resided with the same child. However, in some families, the elderly couple lived separately with different children in order to provide help to each of them simultaneously. By doing so, they believed that they had maximized their contribution to the children’s households although they had sacrificed a lot in their personal life. What Chinese migrant grandparents offered to their grandchildren was more than physical care. They also contributed to the process of imbuing cultural values into their upbringing. Chinese culture cherishes family education from grandparents to grandchildren (Da, 2003). Within the migration context, the elderly Chinese migrants felt an even stronger responsibility to teach Chinese language and cultural norms to their grandchildren. A 77 year old male participant commented on his grandson’s education during the interview: I spent my own money to send my grandson to learn Chinese. There was a Chinese language class in our Chinese Association. I sent my grandson there twice a week, eight dollars each time, only half an hour. I’d wait for him while he was in class. I also put a lot of energy tutoring him at home. I made many many cards, Chinese characters, hundreds of them. You know, there’s nowhere we can buy them in New Zealand. Although the elderly believed that they had put much effort into socialising their grandchildren, their effort was not necessarily appreciated by the young parents. Sometimes, the young parents even blamed them for bringing burdens to their children. As this participant further commented: I thought teaching him [my grandson] Chinese at young age was very important… My son and daughter-in-law didn’t think so. We had very different opinions… They thought I had interfered too much [in terms of the grandchildren’s education]. 20

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This example shows clearly that the support provided by the elderly migrants to their grandchildren was not appreciated by all young parents. This mismatch in perceptions – the perception of providing extensive support held by the elderly, and the perception of bringing extra burdens to the children held by the young parents – resulted in disappointment to the elderly migrants. In addition to assisting with childcare and domestic chores, the elderly Chinese migrants also provided financial support to their children. In this study, almost all my participants had invested a certain amount of money into their children’s migration. Within the long-term co-residential households, many elderly parents also gave their life savings to their children at the time of their arrival. Once they qualified for New Zealand social benefits or superannuation, most of them gave this money to the adult children they co-resided with, as a form of ‘room and board’. By doing so, they believed they would not become an economic burden to their children. Over one-third of my participants talked frankly about how they had helped their children with the down payment and regular mortgage on their home. They also gave financial support when their children wanted to start their own business in New Zealand. Providing monetary support to children when they needed it was viewed as a parental obligation. A male participant’s comment revealed this point clearly: Because we live together [with my son], we [my wife and I] didn’t manage our money. We have enough anyways …We sold our apartment [in China]; we brought the money and our savings [to my son] ... We felt obligated to pay for his house. It was quite a large amount for the down payment. Of course, Chinese parents are all like this. Another male participant also said: “It’s natural for the children to spend their parents’ money, but we won’t financially depend on our children.” Many participants in my study expressed that they understood the difficulties faced by their adult children in post-migration life; therefore, most elderly parents were generous with their money. This finding apparently contradicts a widespread belief in New Zealand’s public discourse that elderly Chinese migrants rely on their children for financial support (Tan, 2011). Together with financial support, the practical assistance given by elderly parents successfully helped young couples to cope with multiple post-migration challenges. Over half of my participants stated that their own migration to New Zealand enabled their daughters or daughters-in-law to return to the labour 21


market soon after childbirth. Having older parents help with childcare and housework also enabled young couples to work longer hours and have higher incomes, which facilitated the establishment of the young couples in the host country. A female participant reflected during the interview that: I think I have given a lot of help to my son. Because of my migration, my son and daughter-in-law could both work. Before I came here, one of them had to stay at home for childcare. Besides, they have no worries and feel at ease when I look after their baby. Thus, they can focus on their work. Most of my interviewees felt a sense of fulfilment because they provided valuable assistance to their children’s households. Some participants even perceived their unpaid housework and childcare as ‘an indirect contribution to New Zealand’. The care-giving role played by elderly Chinese parents fostered a sense of self-worth and confidence. All of these positive perceptions added quality to their lives. Receiving Support from Children While providing support to their children’s households, the elderly Chinese migrants in return received various types of support from their adult children. The support encompassed almost all aspects of the elderly parents’ life, both within and outside the household. Practical and informational support was the most common and the most recognized types of support that the elderly received from their adult children. This ranged from providing transportation, making appointments with doctors, doing shopping, to translating English documents. Many of the participants described themselves as ‘deaf, mute and blind, and understanding nothing’ that was going on around them. Therefore, they valued greatly the practical and informational support given to them by their adult children. An elderly couple described how they benefited from intergenerational co-residence during the interview: We can’t speak English, and we can’t drive. We need help when we go to see our doctors. Besides, we receive many letters and phone calls [from English speakers], we can’t handle these. Living together with my son and daughter-in-law, all these difficulties are resolved. They arrange everything for us, like seeing doctors and shopping. As new migrants to a Western country with different cultural and social systems, these elderly people needed a considerable amount of support to familiarise themselves with their new home. The lack of established social networks in the host country and their limited English language skills meant 22

Zhang

that their adult children were usually the only source of practical and informational support, especially at the early stage of settlement. My participants also received financial support from their adult children. The financial support was usually not in direct monetary form, but in the form of food, accommodation, and in other necessities. A female participant said: “Food and accommodation are all provided by my son.” A male participant mentioned that apart from basic daily supplies, his son and daughter-in-law also bought other things for him: “For example, my daughter-in-law buys health food and medicine for us. Other necessities too… and gifts for festivals and birthdays…” For many elderly Chinese migrants, material support symbolises emotional care by their adult children. In fact, such emotional care is what elderly migrants expect and want most from their children. Most participants felt satisfied with the support they received from their children at the early stage of their migration. However, such satisfaction dropped significantly over time in a co-residential situation. Apart from conflicts caused by generational differences, the major reason for this drop in satisfaction was a perceived imbalanced reciprocity in the support exchange process. Unmet Expectations: Imbalanced Reciprocity As discussed above, the major part of support provided by the elderly Chinese migrants to their children’s households was childcare and helping with domestic chores, both of which are intensive and long-term tasks. However, the practical support needed/received by the elderly parents was significantly decreased after they became familiar with the new living environment. As a result, many participants felt overburdened, exploited and subordinated. Such negative feeling was further amplified when they did not receive enough recognition, respect and gratitude from their adult children. Among the 35 participants, 23 expressed clearly that they were willing to do whatever was in their capacity to help their children and grandchildren as long as such contributions were recognized and they were respected. A 67 year old grandmother talked frankly: “I feel I’m still young now. I can do a lot [housework for them], but I have my requirement – they must respect me.” Unfortunately, however, a large number of my participants felt offended because they felt that their dedication to their children’s household was devalued or insufficiently appreciated. A male participant, who was in his mid70s, said during the interview: 23


I didn’t feel happy when we looked after their child... We took care of everything and they did nothing at all. We felt exhausted … we cooked for the whole family… but they were inconsiderate to us, and that made us unhappy. Feelings of loneliness and isolation due to their time-consuming childcare and domestic chores further accentuated their perception of being overburdened and even exploited. Participants often felt tethered to their children’s households, and did not have time and opportunity to socialize. A 66 year old grandmother said: If I lived by myself, I could go to a lot of Chinese associations to attend activities. But now I can’t go anywhere. I have to look after my daughter’s child and her house. Elderly Chinese here have a pet phrase: we are free nannies and guard dogs. How sad we are! Having few social relationships outside the family led my participants to place high emotional demands on their family members. As almost half of my participants indicated, if those needs for emotional support were not satisfied, they would experience a drop in quality of life. In regards to financial issues, some of my participants realised that even though they had ‘invested’ heavily in their children, they would not receive commensurate support in return. A 63 year old male participant, for example, paid all the bills for his son’s education and migration to New Zealand. When he decided to move to New Zealand, he thought he would lead a relaxed retired life and be well supported by his son. He was soon disillusioned when he realised that instead of supporting him in old age, his son expected him to continue to work in New Zealand. He was shocked when he found out that he needed to pay to live in his son’s house. I had thought that it’s perfectly justified for a father to live in his son’s house [for free]. I have raised you for more than 20 years. Can’t you just support me in old age for just a few years?!… According to the Chinese tradition, the purpose of raising a son is to guarantee that I would be taken good care of when I’m old… Now, it seems that such a notion doesn’t make sense here [in New Zealand]. For some other participants, it was more than not getting good care; they felt they were being financially exploited by their adult children. A 75 year old female participant complained during the interview: My son wanted to start a small business, but he didn’t have enough money. He wanted me to sell my apartment in China to support him. He promised me that he would buy me a new apartment in China when he earned enough money. He succeeded and bought several 24

Zhang

houses here. But none for me in China… I don’t have a home in China now. I could never return to my home country. Financial issues within the family had a tremendous impact on these migrants’ future plans and elderly care. Participants who sacrificed their own properties or life savings for their children tended to be controlled by their adult children, and had more concerns about their later years. They were less likely to be able to afford living separately from their adult children even when they were experiencing family conflicts. They were also more likely to subordinate their own needs to those of their adult children. Once their children made new plans or migrated again, they faced a higher risk of being ‘abandoned’ and experiencing poverty in their old age. In many cases, imbalanced intergenerational reciprocity forced the elderly migrants to lower their expectations of support from their adult children. They started to re-adjust their perceptions of their children’s filial piety. Realising that getting commensurate support from their adult children was impossible, many elderly migrants attempted to achieve a new balance by moving out of their children’s house and reducing support to their adult children. Hence, for them independence became more salient than depending on their children for support, and it has increasingly been considered by some elderly migrants as a more realistic means for enhancing their quality of life. Balanced Reciprocity in Independent Living Arrangements Living apart from adult children helped some participants to rectify the imbalanced intergenerational reciprocity they experienced during their coresidence. Although the frequency of support exchange was much lower than before, they reported a higher level of well-being and quality of life within the independent living arrangements. Feeling able to manage their own lives and having stable incomes (usually social benefits or Superannuation from New Zealand government2) were the two most important prerequisites for their independent living arrangements. When the interviews were conducted, 19 participants (54 per cent) were receiving New Zealand Superannuation and 16 (46 per cent) were

2

In New Zealand, elderly immigrants may be entitled to the universal superannuation, or other forms means-tested financial support, as long as they meet the residence requirements. The recipient of New Zealand Superannuation need to be aged 65 years and over, and have at least ten years of residence, five of which must be since he/she turned 50.

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receiving means-tested benefits3. Out of the intergenerational co-residential households, my participants usually lived in rented apartments, co-rented houses or state houses. In some cases, they moved into their children’s investment properties and co-reside with tenants, thus they exchange their work of housekeeping for free accommodation. The participants usually felt less burdened when they lived apart from their adult children. They no longer needed to do domestic chores for their children’s households, and only looked after grandchildren ‘part-time’ or occasionally when the young parents were not available. This enabled them to have more leisure time for their own lives. They learned English and computer skills, attended a wide range of social activities, made more friends, and had better knowledge of the host society. A female participant, who had moved out of her son’s home two years before, said during the interview: “When my son or his wife is available, they will not send my grandchildren to our place… and then we are quite free. We go to community centre in the morning and play table-tennis.” Another male participant also recalled that: “When I don’t need to take care of my grandson, all the burdens are gone. I have my spare time. So, I attend the Chinese association. I make a lot of friends and I don’t feel lonely anymore.” Having more time to relax and socialize not only contributed to the elderly migrants’ psychological well-being, but also broadened their own social networks. Their daily communication was no longer limited to just family members, neighbours or their children’s friends. They participated actively in local community activities, or even organised their own senior clubs. Some participants proudly told me that they felt happy making new friends in New Zealand, because they “shared similar backgrounds”, “had abundant time to chat”, “understood each other” and “provided mutual help”. The newly built networks empowered these elderly Chinese migrants to maintain their independence and to cope with their daily routine without the help of their children. Although living apart from their adult children, most participants did not feel ignored or abandoned. They still received companionship, suggestions or language assistance from their children when they asked for help. They also felt 3

The sampling of this study excludes the new arrivals (less than two years) who did not qualify for any benefits. This is one of the possible reasons why such high percentage of participants were eligible for New Zealand social benefits.

26

Zhang

emotionally cared for when they received regular phone calls or were visited by their children and grandchildren. Actually, many participants enjoyed such intimacy at a distance, feeling that they had more control over their own lives while maintaining emotional bonds with family members. As a female participant said: “Depending on myself is better than relying on my children. I only ask them for help when necessary…. They have their own lives and jobs. I have to live by myself, with independent money and an independent life.” Independent living arrangements were found to be important in the intergenerational support exchange process, and subsequently contributed to the quality of life of my participants. Maintaining independence helped them to avoid being overburdened by the domestic chores in their children’s households. It gave the elderly migrants a sense of being in control of their own life. Most importantly, it helped to achieve satisfactory family relationships by moving closer to a balanced intergenerational reciprocity. Conclusion This article has investigated the importance of family support to the quality of life of elderly Chinese migrants in New Zealand. Particular consideration was given to their migration and settlement process, their post-migration living arrangements, and the support exchange between generations. Generally, family was crucial component of my participants’ post-migration quality of life. However, their perceptions of family support evolved as family dynamics changed in the migration context. Intimacy at a distance and maintaining independence had become the new approaches to enhancing quality of life in old age. Intergenerational support exchange was found to be a key factor shaping the relationship between living arrangements and quality of life. Two patterns of exchange were analysed, together with two types of living arrangements. Within co-residential households, the frequency of intergenerational support exchange was relatively high but, paradoxically, the elderly participants did not always report a satisfying quality of life. In contrast, the participants who lived independently and had less frequent contact with their adult children reported a much higher quality of life. Hence, I argue that people’s perceptions of quality of life are not simply determined by the amount of support they receive but by the dynamics of the support exchange process. The imbalanced reciprocity experienced by many participants prompted them to reflect upon their original expectations of the support their children would give, to re-define their family 27


roles, and to re-construct their perceptions of quality of life. Consequently, many of them changed their living arrangements to pursue a more balanced support exchange and enjoy the intimacy at a distance. The strengthening independence of the elderly Chinese migrants also indicates the significance of the superannuation and social benefits gained from the New Zealand government to their quality of life. The government subsidies enable those elderly migrants to settle down, to participate in social activities, and to establish social networks with confidence (Zhang, 2014). Although it is not the focus of this paper, it is worth noticing that there is a contradiction between the public discourse and those elderly Chinese migrants with regard to the perceptions of “making a contribution to the host country” and “qualifying for New Zealand Superannuation” (Bennett, 2012; Trevett, 2012). This contradiction could be specifically investigated in a further piece of research. The quality of life of elderly Chinese migrants is a complex topic requiring analysis of many factors outlined in this paper. The dynamics of migrant families have undermined the traditional caring functions of Chinese families. As the elderly Chinese migrants depend less on their family but more on communities and the host society, further attention needs to be extended to the interaction between their quality of life and various types of supportive facilities. References

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Zhang Chappell, N. L., & Kusch, K. (2007) The gendered nature of filial piety — A study among Chinese Canadians. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 22: 29-45. Chen, J., Wilkins, R., & Ng, E. (1996) Health expectancy by immigrant status, 1986 and 1991. Health Reports 8(3): 29-38. Da, W. W. (2003) Transnational grandparenting: Child care arrangements among migrants from the People's Republic of China to Australia. Journal of International Migration and Integration 4(1): 79-103. Davey, A., & Eggebeen, D. J. (1998) Patterns of intergenerational exchange and mental health. Journal of Gerontology 53(2): 86-95. Edmonston, B., & Lee, S. (2012) Living arrangements of Canada's elderly immigrants. Paper presented at the Pathways to Metropolis in the 21st Century: Immigration Issues and Futures, Auckland, New Zealand. Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Gee, M. E. (2000) Living arrangements and quality of life among Chinese Canadian elders. Social Indicators Research 51(3): 309-329. Hupcey, J. E. (1998) Clarifying the social support theory: Research linkage. Journal of Advanced Nursing 27(6): 1231-1241. Ip, D., Lui, C., & Chui, W. (2007) Veiled entrapment: A study of social isolation of older Chinese migrants in Brisbane Queensland. Ageing and Society 27: 719-738. Ip, M., & Friesen, W. (2001) The new Chinese community in New Zealand: Local outcomes of transnationalism. The Asian Pacific Migration Journal 10(2): 213-240. Kim, H., Hisata, M., Kai, I., & Lee, S. (2000) Social support exchange and quality of life among the Korean elderly. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 15: 331-347. Krause, N., Herzog, A. R., & Baker, E. (1992) Providing support to others and well-being in later life. Journal of Gerontology 47(5): 300-311. Lai, D. W. L., Tsang, K. T., Chappell, N. L., & Lai, C. D. (2007) Relationships between culture and health status: A multi-site study of the older Chinese in Canada. Canadian Journal on Aging 26: 171-183. Lan, P. (2002) Subcontracting filial piety elder care in ethnic Chinese immigrant families in California. Journal of Family Issues 23: 812-835. Lei, X., Strauss, J., Tian, M., & Zhao, Y. (2011) Living arrangements of the elderly in China: Evidence from CHARLS Discussion Paper No. 6249. Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor. Li, W. (2011) Shifting selves: Home beyond the house - A study of ageing, housing and wellbeing of older Chinese migrants to New Zealand. (Doctor of Philosophy), The University of Waikato. Litwin, H. (1995) The social networks of elderly immigrants: An analytic typology. Journal of Aging Studies 9(2): 155-174. Meares, C., Ho, E., Peace, R., & Spoonley, P. (2010) Bamboo networks: Chinese employers and employees in Auckland Integration of Immigrants Programme (p. 71) North Shore City, New Zealand: Massey University, University of Waikato. Musil, C. M., Warner, C. B., Stoller, E. P., & Andersen, T. E. (2004) Women and intergenerational caregiving in families: Structure, ethnicity, and building family ties. In M. L. Wykle, P. J. Whitehouse & D. L. Morris (Eds.), Successful aging through the life span: Intergenerational issues in health (pp. 143-158) New York, USA: Springer. National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2004) Women and men in China. Beijing, China. New Zealand Department of Labour. (2011) Migration trends and outlook 2010/2011 (p. 112) Wellington, New Zealand. New Zealand Department of Labour. (2013) Migration trends and outlook 2011/2012 (p. 128) Wellington, New Zealand. New Zealand Government. (2006) Working for families. Retrieved from http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz/. Ochiltree, G. (2006) The changing role of grandparents. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

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New Zealand Sociology Volume 29 Issue 2 2014 Pyke, K. (2004) Immigrant families in the US. In J. L. Scott, J. Treas & M. Richards (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to the sociology of families (pp. 253-269) Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Remennick, L. (2003) Retired and making a fresh start: Older russian immigrants discuss their adjustment in Israel. International Migration 41(5): 153-176. Rook, K. S. (1987) Reciprocity of social exchange and social satisfaction among older women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52(1): 145 -154. Schwarz, B., Trommsdorff, G., Zheng, G., & Shi, S. (2010) Reciprocity in intergenerational support: A comparison of Chinese and German adult daughters. Journal of Family Issues 31(2): 234256. Shardlow, S. M., Rochelle, T. L., Ng, S. H., Duvvuru, J., Ho, E., & Chen, H. (2011) Positive approaches to coping with the challenges of ageing: Research priorities. Psychological Studies 56(3): 295-303. Suh, E. E., Kagan, S., & Strumpf, N. (2009) Cultural competence in qualitative interview methods with Asian immigrants. Journal of Transcultural Nursing 20(2): 194-201. Tan, L. (2011, Feb. 4) Chinese choosing NZ for retirement, New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10703984 Treas, J., & Marcum, C. S. (2011) Diversity and family relations in an aging society. In R. A. Settersten & J. L. Angel (Eds.), Handbook of sociology of aging (pp. 131-141) New York; Dordrecht; Heidelberg; London: Springer Verlag. Treas, J., & Mazumdar, S. (2002) Older people in America's immigrant families: Dilemmas of dependence, integration, and isolation. Journal of Aging Studies 16(3): 243-258. Trevett, C. (2012, Jun. 19) Peters and Key agree to disagree over Super, New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10813923 Tsang, E. Y., Liamputtong, P., & Pierson, J. (2004) The views of older Chinese people in Melbourne about their quality of life. Ageing and Society 24: 51-74. Walker, A. (2005) Growing older: Understanding quality of life in old age. Berkshire, England: Open University Press. Wilmoth, J. M. (2001) Living Arrangements among Older Immigrants in the United States. The Gerontologist 41(2): 228-238. Work and Income New Zealand. (2012) Childcare subsidy. Retrieved Aug. 15, 2012, from http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/individuals/a-z-benefits/childcare-subsidy.html World Health Organization Quality of Life Group. (1997) WHOQOL: Measuring quality of life. Geneva, Switzerland. Zhang, J. (2014) Enhancing quality of life: The social support of elderly Chinese migrants in New Zealand. (Doctor of Philosophy), The University of Auckland.

Biography: Dr Jingjing Zhang received her doctorate in Sociology from The University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her PhD study focuses on the social support and quality of life of elderly Chinese migrants in New Zealand. Her research expertise is in the fields of migration studies, family policies and gerontology. She has since taken the lectureship in Southeast University, Nanjing, China. Email: [email protected]

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Buttle and Rodgers

Panic about Crime in New Zealand’s Rural Paradise John Buttle and James Rodgers

Abstract Apparently, New Zealand’s image as a peaceful paradise has been shattered by incidents of tourists becoming victims of serious crimes and disorder. This has been perceived as a threat to New Zealand’s tourism economy. Media representations of serious crimes against domestic and international tourist are examined. It was found that New Zealand’s embodiment of the rural paradise remained mostly intact with international tourists and that the moral panics about violence and disorder were more pertinent to the domestic tourism market. This is problematic because the domestic tourism market is more lucrative than its international counterpart. Furthermore, the actual risk of becoming a victim of serious crimes is accentuated while ignoring the more prevalent risk from volume crimes. Introduction Much of the research into the relationship between crime and tourism focuses on tourists’ fear of crime and disorder and the impact that high-profile crimes, predominantly terrorism, has on destination choice (Mawby, 2000). This research has mostly focused on jurisdictions that are already, to a lesser or greater extent, considered dangerous by many tourists. For example, Afghanistan is perceived as an unstable nation state on the verge of civil war and prone to human rights abuses, which perpetuates a menacing image that is not conducive to tourism. Even New York’s reputation as a dangerous and violent city was apparent before the impact that the 9/11 terrorists attacks had on tourist choices regarding holiday destinations. However, there is little or no research conducted on the impact that media coverage of serious crime has on jurisdictions like New Zealand, which enjoy an image that infers unparalleled safety. Indeed, contemporary published research into the relationship between tourism and crime in the context of New Zealand is limited (e.g. Barker, Page, and Mayer, 2002; Buttle and Rodger, 2012; Kazmierow, Cessford, Wilson, Mayhew, and Morrison, 2009).

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The New Zealand Context While New Zealand’s tourism industry takes into account the financial benefits of relatively isolated urban based events such as the Americas Cup Yacht Race of 2000 hosted by Auckland City (Barker et al, 2002) and the Rugby World Cup of 2011, the majority of international tourists view New Zealand in a more rural context. New Zealand is a place of pristine rural beauty with spectacular beaches and coastline vistas, green sub-tropical bush land, picturesque mountains and volcanoes, and grand fjords. Therefore, the tourism industry has always utilized the rural aspects of New Zealand to construct an image that sells vacations to the international tourism market (Bell, 2008). The countryside is also a favoured destination for the domestic tourists and during the summer, cities like Auckland empty out as inhabitants migrate on their annual camping trip or visit to the family holiday home (bach) to relax (Buttle, 2006). International and domestic tourism generates considerable income for the New Zealand economy. Statistics for 2009 indicate that international tourists expended $9.3 Billion while visiting New Zealand (Ministry of Tourism, 2009). Likewise, domestic tourist expenditure reached $12.4 Billion (Ministry of Tourism, 2009). Given the considerable revenue provided by tourism, any incidents that tarnish the image of New Zealand can be perceived as a threat to the economy. The largest threat to the revenue provided by tourism comes from the perception that a particular destination is dangerous. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that crime and safety issues can adversely affect the behaviour of tourists (Arana and Leon, 2007; Bentley and Page, 2001; Bonham, Edmonds and Mak, 2006; Buttle and Rodgers, 2012; Gut and Jarrell, 2007; Pizam and Mansfield, 1996; Selby, Selby and Botterall, 2010; Tarlow, 2000). This is especially the case where sensationalized media coverage of crimes against tourists highlights the possibility for victimization while on vacation (Chesney-Lind and Lind, 1986). Mawby (2000) suggests that incidents of violence, robbery, and terrorism can raise concerns about the safety of tourists, which in turn may lead to large cancellations and economic problems in areas dependent on tourism. This study adds further knowledge to the understanding of the relationship between crime and tourism by examining how fears about serious crimes such as homicide and sexual violence may impact on tourist’s choice of destination. Uniquely, the focus is on New Zealand a tourist destination renowned as the epitome of a rural paradise. Furthermore, from the perspective 32

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of New Zealand there has been little published on this topic. Given the dearth in academic publications on the relationship between crime and tourism in New Zealand, this work examines how sensationalized media representations may, or may not, pose problems for the tourism industry. This will be achieved by first establishing how Tourism New Zealand promotes the idea of a pristine paradise to the international market through sustained public relations campaigns that often utilise popular culture through the medium of feature films. A discourse analysis has been undertaken of how crimes against tourists are portrayed in the written media as a means of gaining a greater understanding of how New Zealand’s reputation as a desirable destination may be challenged by negative reportage of crimes. Also, the use of the relatively small literature regarding tourism and crime in New Zealand provides a context to balance the basic argument of this work. Method As the name suggests, discourse analysis is a term that covers research concerned with how language is used in its social and cognitive context (Potter and Weatherell, 1987), and allows for comparisons to be made between the language utilised to describe different social groups. Moreover, it is Foucault’s (1972) assertion that discourse produces knowledge and constructs meaning of the social world. It is how the discourse describing crimes related to tourism produces knowledge about the safety of destinations, in this case New Zealand, which is of interest, and why discourse analysis is appropriate for this study. Therefore the primary perspective that informs this research stems from an interpretivist paradigm (Connell, 1996; Marshall & Rossman, 2006; Tolich, 2001). Working from the understanding that social actors discourse is sociocultural locations, interpretivism allows for the recognition that crime and tourism, as elsewhere, are embedded in the contexts in which they occur. Undertaking an interpretivist approach to researching crime and tourism in the New Zealand enables the data to be informed by religious, social, cultural, ethnic, and class influences, as well as incorporating ways in which this phenomena is impacted by modernisation and globalisation. The interpretivist paradigm was used because it allows for the development of an understanding of crime and tourism within the socio cultural context of New Zealand while also accounting for the influence of global factors. A further paradigm influencing this research is grounded theory (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007). The exploratory nature of a grounded theory approach requires 33


that the researchers become immersed in the relevant media discourse while making comparisons between materials over time (Altheide and Coyle, 2006). Using grounded theory allows the researchers to develop a rich description of the media news stories discussed, as the theory emerges from the data. In this case the themes that emerged were around a number of homicides and rapes of tourists and around violent disorder during the holiday season. This provided a number of distinct case studies to examine. The data collected for this study comprised of news articles that were available from the websites of their respective publications. The following websites were used to draw an initial sample of articles: nzherald.co.nz, stuff.co.nz, bbc.co.uk, dutchnews.nl, tvnz.co.nz, nz.news.yahoo.com, news.sky.com, 3news.co.nz. The Newztext database was also used in conjunction with searching these main media outlets. The following search terms were used to collect the articles: “tourist + crime + new Zealand”, “tourism + victim + new zealand”, “tourist + murder + new Zealand”, “tourist + attacked + new Zealand”, and “touris* + crime + new Zealand”. From these articles specific cases were chosen based on the frequent coverage, and high profile nature, of the crimes committed. The sexual assault cases against Dutch tourists in New Zealand and the murder of British tourist Karen Aim were reported on extensively and frequently due to the grisly nature of the crimes and the ‘extraordinary nature’ of the incidents (Altheide, 2003; Ferrell & Websdale, 1999; Reiner, 2007). Articles were collected that related to these two primary events, as well as supplementary articles where tourists were the victim of a crime within New Zealand. Articles were collected with publication dates ranging from January 2008 to December 2010 from the aforementioned websites and Newztext database. A non-random purposive sampling technique was then utilised to select articles for inclusion based on their relevance to the study and the quality of the publication (Cochran, 2007). In total, 20 articles were chosen for inclusion Panic In Paradise? Selling the Rural Idyll New Zealand is a place of considerable scenic grandeur, so the tourism industry utilizes the rural aspects of New Zealand to construct an image to sell vacations to perspective tourists. Butler (1998) suggests that such an image is often constructed through the utilisation of rural settings by the entertainment media. 34

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This is especially the case with prospective international tourists whose introduction to New Zealand’s beautiful scenery probably occurred while viewing Peter Jackson’s film adaption of Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and subsequently ‘The Hobbit’. While this may seem stereotypical, the influence of popular culture on social policy and the tourism economy should not be underestimated (Bell, 2006; Rojek, 1997). Tourism New Zealand realised that these films showcased New Zealand to the world and perceived the first ‘Lord of the Rings’ film as a promotional video (Hudson and Ritchie, 2006). It was estimated that the exposure provided by these films would provide benefits to New Zealand in excess of US$41 Million (New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, 2002). During the filming of ‘Lord of the Rings’ media clippings mentioned that the film was being made in New Zealand and emphasised the supporting role of the scenic landscape (Buchmann, Moore and Fisher, 2010). Tourism New Zealand devoted part of its website to the film locations for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ announcing them as tourist attractions (Hudson and Ritchie, 2006). Even Air New Zealand launched an ‘Airline to Middle Earth’ campaign (Buchmann et al, 2010). The linking of the scenic views from the ‘Lord of the Rings films has become synonymous with New Zealand in the eyes of potential tourists. As Bell (2008) noted Tourism New Zealand has gained considerable mileage from these films, which have effectively repositioned New Zealand as Middle Earth. The perpetuation of New Zealand as a scenic paradise is also achieved by the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign (Bell, 2008; Connell, Page, and Bentley, 2009). In this marketing campaign New Zealand is portrayed as a faraway country that is green and clean, which suggests an environmentally friendly wilderness; an exciting place with exotic scenery that is safely removed from any civil or military conflicts (Buchmann et al, 2010). New Zealand’s image as a rural paradise for tourists did not come about by accident but was purposefully constructed with official government support. Indeed, government support is so strong that New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key appeared on the David Letterman show to promote tourism during a state visit to the United States. During this appearance Letterman commented about New Zealand, ‘it’s a wonderland, isn’t it?’ (New Zealand Herald, 2009: 1). It was also the case that the Key government changed employment laws removing workers rights to avoid the perceived risk of the ‘Hobbit’ being filmed in another country, if industrial action was taken (Kelly, 2011). The justification for this action was if 35


the ‘Hobbit’ was filmed elsewhere this would be disastrous to New Zealand’s Tourism industry Therefore it can be seen that considerable political thought and energy has been put into the social construction and maintenance of New Zealand as a rural paradise for tourists in the eyes of the international community. The scenic vistas that emphasise the rural aspects of tourism in New Zealand are not just constructed of rural geographical attributes but also encompass a sense of peace and tranquillity so often associated with rural locations (Daugstad, 2008; Swaffield and Fairweather, 1998). This corresponds to what has been termed the rural idyll. The concept of the rural idyll is contested and its meaning is dependent on historical and cultural factors (Short, 2006), but it often portrays the countryside as a peaceful tranquil place characterized by a romantic beauty and nostalgic traces of more simpler times in a more rustic past (Mingay, 1989). The countryside is perceived as both innocent and clean (Bell, 1997). Furthermore, this rural idyll is often inhabited by respectable people that are good hearted, hospitable, kind, virtuous, community orientated and with higher moral integrity than their urban counterparts (Howitt, 1971; Mordue, 2009). Buttle and Rodgers (2012) indicate that the rural idyll his corresponds with the relaxed and friendly nature of the fictional characters and places from Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’. … many images of Middle-Earth and New Zealand are similar: both are traditionally characterised by rolling farmland, lush forests, clear streams, snow-capped mountains and even deserts as well as an ‘uncomplicated’ lifestyle connected to the outdoors. (Buchmann et al, 2010: 232) The rural idyll can be viewed as the link between the fictional popular culture depictions of the fictional or even mythical ‘Lord of the Rings’ and New Zealand, which creates a powerful but over idealised image of the peaceful rural paradise coveted by tourists (Buttle and Rodgers, 2012). The most pertinent version of the rural idyll is described by Bell (2006) as the tourist idyll. From this perspective the production of a tourist rural idyll must be globally recognisable by international consumers (Duruz, 1999). Therefore, tourists’ concepts of the rural idyll may not be an exact duplicate of how life in the countryside is understood by New Zealanders. For example, given the very British origin of Tolkien’s work, a tourist idyll associated with the ‘lord of the Rings’ conceptualisation of ‘Middle Earth’ would be Pākehā

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(European) in its content and ignore many of the indigenous Maori perspectives and understandings. Moreover, it is the peaceful enjoyment and friendly welcome along with safe aspects of the rural idyll that are emphasised when marketing New Zealand’s opportunities to the world, because this is how rural life is viewed by most cultures. Therefore, it is important to New Zealand’s tourism industry that this national image of peace and tranquillity remains intact. Beware of the Anti-Idyll The rural idyll refutes the dangers and moral decay characterized by urban life. Therefore, crime and disorder must be perceived as virtually non-existent in order to maintain the idyll. Likewise, for the tranquil image of New Zealand to be maintained, the notion of safety must be ensured for prospective tourists. As the countryside must be seen to remain free from crime, disorder and deviance (Cloke and Little, 1997; Halfacree, 1996; Jones, 1998), so to must a nation that promotes itself to tourists as a safe destination by claiming to embody the values and characteristics of the rural idyll. Tourists have indicated a preference for destinations that are perceived as tranquil, peaceful environments (Neumayer, 2004; Reisenger and Mavondo, 2005). ‘When people travel, they do not want to be exposed to personal hazards, so safety is a paramount concern of most travellers’ (Bonham, Edmonds and Mak, 2006: 99). There is another view of the countryside that is the antithesis of the rural idyll. What Bell (1997) terms as the anti-idyll is also depicted in popular culture. Bell states that slasher movies, such as the ‘Hills Have Eyes’ and action movies such as ‘Deliverance’ characterise rural people as depraved criminals or deviant through the depiction of urban tourists being hunted and victimised by rural inhabitants. Here, the picturesque countryside becomes a desperate isolated fear producing location that should be avoided. In the anti-idyll, it is the backpackers that must be wary of the horrors waiting to be perpetrated against them by chainsaw welding mass murderers. The New Zealand made film ‘The Locals’ is an example of popular cultures depiction of the anti-idyll. Two friends hit the road for a weekend of surfing, booze and maybe … girls. After taking the proverbial misguided shortcut, through Waikato’s backcountry gravel roads, the boys crash in the middle of nowhere. Soon the duo is pursued by a creepy mob of local hicks led by Bill the butcher/farmer. The Locals is set in the dead of night in the scariest part of rural New Zealand, where likeable, innocent young characters are pitted against the things humans fear the most: being 37


lost, being in the dark and being chased by an unknown, menacing foe (Pryor, 2005: 1). Given that the New Zealand tourism industry has traditionally catered to international backpackers (Bell, 2008), this image of the fear-evoking anti-idyll may be damaging to the tourism industry. Peel and Steen (2007) noted that the film ‘Wolf Creek’, which depicts the horrific abductions and murders of backpackers was reminiscent of the real life Milat and Murdoch crimes in Australia. Milat was a serial killer who perpetrated seven homicides against backpackers and Murdoch killed Peter Falconi and allegedly attempted to rape Joanne Lees as the couple travelled across Australia (Mawby, 2010). It was thought that the screening of ‘Wolf Creek’ would result in a downturn in backpackers visiting Australia but any valid empirical evidence to support this assumption has not been forthcoming (Mawby, 2010; Peel and Steen, 2007). However, films are known by most people to be fictional and are a less legitimate means of gathering information about countries that are suitable for a vacation. Considerably more credence is given to information produced by the news media because of the non-fictional content of the programming. In short, stories that are supposedly factual accounts of serious crimes may provide greater support for the anti-idyll. News Values and the Reporting of Crime The media plays an integral role in informing the public of crime stories through domestic and international media outlets (Cohen and Young, 1973; Cottle, 2003; Garofalo, 1981; Manson, 2003; Potter and Kappeler, 1998; Pritchard and Hughes, 1997). However, there is a large disparity between the types of crimes that are reported and those that are most prevalent. For example, dishonesty offences such as theft or burglary are far more common than violent crimes; with dishonesty making up 56.7% of all reported crime in 2005, while violent crimes only accounted for 11.9% (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). Yet when viewing mainstream media, and in particular news broadcasts, violent crimes account for the majority of reported crime news (Ericson, 1995; Reiner, 2007). The phrase ‘if it bleeds it leads’ holds true within the majority of media organizations. Coverage of crime is sensationalized with a view to selling news to a public that the media believe want to be morally shocked and mortified. Due to societies reliance on the media for information regarding crime, the disparity between reality and what is presented on the news can have unintended consequences. Most notable is the perceived level of violent crime 38

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within society and an elevated fear of victimisation (Barak, 1994; Ericson, 1995; Jefferson and Holloway, 2000; McRobbie and Thornton, 1995). Information regarding crime is mediated by personal experience. Victims often report greater levels of fear compared with the majority of the public who are relatively untouched by serious crime (Brunt, Mawby and Hambly, 2000). Therefore, a public that has little experience of serious crime is instead informed by sensationalist media accounts. So, even though the chances of becoming a victim of crime are slim, if the official crime rate is to be believed (Reiner, 2007; Statistics New Zealand, 2006), the perceived level of violent crime can be higher than the risk of becoming a victim (Ericson, 1995; Jefferson & Holloway, 2000; Reiner, 2007). This can have major consequences for a destination that is attempting to market itself to tourists using the image of a rural idyll. When a person is deciding where to take a vacation they do not want to consider the possibility of being victimized (Brunt et al., 2000), even if that possibility is remote. However, this is based on the assumption that the public have the same values as those ascribed to them by the media. It may be that some sensationalized violent incidents are not fear inducing, or at least not as frightening as other incidents. Perhaps there are times when the public ignore sensationalized crime stories rather than spoil their idyllic ideas about where they plan to take a vacation? Moral Panics The notion of moral panics provides a theoretical framework to understand the process by which a criminal incident can elicit fear and outrage within society. The essence of a moral panic is that a particular situation, person, group or setting is seen as a threat to society’s values and norms (Cohen, 2002; Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 1994; Ungar, 2001). When this person, group or situation has been identified, the threat presented is often over-reported by the media with exaggeration of the potential threats that could occur (Waddington, 1986). Often these events do not warrant this attention and the public can become fearful over an issue where the risk of danger is marginal. It is also the case that the public may become focused on these faux risks while ignoring more pertinent dangers. Therefore, the public’s ability to make informed decisions about avoiding victimisation is compromised due to their dependence on incorrect information about crime. Whilst the catalyst for moral panics varies considerably, one key element is the perception of a clear and present danger to a person’s bodily self or those 39


the person cares about the most (Ungar, 2001). That is, the threat of nuclear war, terrorism, paedophilia, gangs, abduction, homicide or rape to name a few. When one of these events occurs, a moral panic can form. In order to be perceived as a moral panic, the consequences of a violent act needs to result in an increased level of social concern (Cohen, 2002; Hunt, 1997). As Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) note, an important aspect of moral panics is the consensus shared by the public that the threat is ‘real, serious, and caused by the wrongdoing of group members and their behaviour’ (p 157). Therefore, important to the generation of a moral panic is the need for some group of people to be identified as a danger to society. Cohen used the term folk devils to describe the identification and stereotyping of perceived groups of dangerous people. From this perspective, the fact that the media extensively covers crimes against tourists, especially when violence is involved may be problematic to tourism and such threats to the earning potential of this industry often cause the public to band together in order to express their outrage that the image of New Zealand as a destination is being tarnished by this challenge to the rural idyll. Conversely the sensationalised over reporting of serious crime incidents may not always result in a moral panic. The proliferation of media outlets and their competitive nature means that anxieties often ‘compete’ against each other for the most visibility (McRobbie & Thornton, 1995). Therefore, the threat of crimes against tourists can be seen as an ongoing matter that is often revived when a fresh incident occurs, but also can be easily lost amongst the plethora of crime news. This raises the possibility that news coverage of crimes against tourists can go virtually unnoticed by the desensitised public (Cohen, 2001) or that these events become just another crime that adds to a general sense of unease with the public. Cohen’s classic definition of moral panics ‘encompasses not only ‘person or groups of persons’ but also ‘condition’ and ‘episode’’ (Ungar, 2001: 272). A moral panic about crime falls under the term of ‘episode’ when there is no discernable folk devil to blame other than the generic ‘criminal’. The absence of a clearly defined enemy to identify can result in the medias attempts to create moral panics failing to cause discernible fear or anxiety in the public (Ungar, 2001). The issue is, that random crime against tourists by criminals is less appealing than identifiable groups; such as the classic Mods and Rockers of Cohen’s description (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke and Roberts, 1978). From 40

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this perspective, excessive coverage of crimes against tourists is more symptomatic of a failed moral panic than a real representation of fear amongst the general populace. Although, it may be argued that these events merge with other news coverage to add to a general sense of public unease about crime. Given that there are two outcomes that result from repeated exposure to sensationalised news media accounts of crime, a moral panic that elicits a strong sense of fear and outrage and a more diffuse influence that adds to society’s overall sense of concern about crime, it becomes important to distinguish between the two. Cohen’s notion of moral panic has become a generalised term for just about any sensationalised misrepresentation of reality by the press, whether or not it is amenable to in-depth academic analysis. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that moral panic is discernible. From this perspective a discernible moral panic is when crimes are sensationalised by the news media in such a way that the resultant publicity generates anxiety strong enough to produce an identifiable societal response from politicians, government institutions, policy makers and the reactions of the public. Media Depictions of Crime Against International Tourists Given that people are prone to concerns about issues they perceive to be salient to their wellbeing (Epley and Caruso, 2004; Moore and Loewenstein, 2004), the victimisation of tourists in New Zealand may be considered pertinent to prospective international vacationers. A central issue to media representations of crime stories is the way in which bystander quotes are used to show the devastation of a crime and to create an image of a peaceful community suffering because of this horrendous incident. The following quotes are an example of how printed media co-opt the views and concerns that local residents feel about incidents of crime and disorder. ‘It was the worst possible thing that could have happened to them when they went out of their way to help these two men,’ said Kaitia Detective Sergeant Trevor Beatson. ‘They had come to New Zealand fully believing it was a safe place to holiday and now their holiday and impressions of our country have been shattered’ (Kohler, 2009). ‘It is a sickening attack from the point of view that their own safety and wellbeing was put at risk, but also because this area is regarded by tourists to be a beautiful place to come…The girls were just parked up on the beach in the van, here for a nice vacation. ‘It’s horrible what has happened, we don’t want things like this to happen to visitors’ (Lewis & Gilespie, 2008). 41


‘We consider ourselves to be one big family up the Coast, and everybody thinks it is just horrible that it could happen here’ (NZPA, 2008). By emphasising the shock and dismay that the residents feel about a crime, it further enhances the story’s news value and the coverage it will receive (Ericson, 1995; Reiner, 2007). The discourse of concern by local residents demonstrates their respectable family values, while repudiating any challenge to the rural idyll by implying that theirs is a good community where crime is not tolerated. To this extent, local residents’ fear of crime may be closely linked to concerns about public respectability and the impact that being perceived as dangerous by tourists may have on the local economy. The news media and interest groups have produced a moral panic that emerged about two sexual assaults against Dutch tourists travelling in New Zealand in 2006 and 2009 as a sign that New Zealand must alter its stance in dealing with crimes against tourists (Kohler, 2009; NZ Herald, 2008; NZPA, 2008; Savage, 2007; The Press, 2009b). The first attack occurred in Northland where a vacationing Dutch couple were abducted at gunpoint while in their own campervan. During this time the couple were robbed and the female was raped. In the second incident a Dutch tourist was attacked, raped and robbed while touring around Southland in a hire car. These attacks became the focus for discussion regarding the potential impact of crimes against tourists and New Zealand’s image as a safe place to take a vacation. The media presented these incidents in a manner that is typical of most crimes occurring within a rural setting. The bystander quotes from these news articles attempt to show just how devastating the attacks have been not only for the victims, but also for the surrounding community. Tuatapere Community Board deputy chairman Les Johnston said residents would be horrified when they learned what had happened. ‘We certainly would never expect anything like that to happen here. This sort of thing is not good for us; it is not good for any community. We are trying to be a nice happy little community’ (Porteous, 2009). Wallace (2008) notes, the most popular phrase is: ‘things like that don’t happen here’. This type of comment is usually associated with crimes occurring in rural communities, where the risk of violent crimes are low when compared with the city (Wallace, 2008). This is especially true of crimes that occur within rural New Zealand to tourists, who stay in isolated areas or in small rural towns attempting to enjoy New Zealand’s scenic beauty. Again the bystander 42

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comments are a denial that these incidents are in any way a breach of the rural idyll by emphasizing that good residents occupy the community and that serious crime is a rare occurrence. This can be perceived as a plea to prospective tourists to continue visiting this peaceful paradise and an attempt to soften the warning tone of the article (Noy and Kohn, 2010). Nevertheless, the reporting of the victimisation of these tourists created a moral panic strong enough for action to be taken by the Dutch state. As a consequence of these sexual attacks the Dutch Government issued a travel warning about the supposed dangers of camping in New Zealand (DutchNews, 2009; Gay, 2009a, 2009b; The Press, 2009a). This resulted in some tourism operators expressing their belief that there has been a decline in inquiries and bookings (Taylor & Nicholls, 2009; Gay, 2009b; The Press, 2009b). Given that there has been a societal and behavioural response to the news media coverage this can be viewed as a discernible moral panic. It can be argued that international media may be starting to perceive a trend of serious crime, which tarnishes the peaceful rural image of New Zealand. It is certainly the case that the Dutch authorities have considered these sexual assaults as a sign that depicts a dangerous trend for their citizens and have acted to warn against vacationing in New Zealand. From Cohen’s perspective New Zealand has become a folk devil for the Dutch tourism authorities. However, it can also be argued that this has only had a limited impact on tourism in New Zealand. People are generally self-interested (Epley and Caruso, 2004; Moore and Loewenstein, 2004) and attend to news that pertains to them, so it is likely that the bulk, if not all of the reporting of these crimes against Dutch tourists focused on only two countries. The anxiety surrounding possible danger was received through media outlets that focus on the Netherlands and New Zealand. Prospective tourists in other European countries are probably less aware of these incidents and still associate New Zealand with the rural idyll. It is notable, that other European countries have not issued warnings to their citizens against travelling in New Zealand. Furthermore, the financial costs of these two crimes to the tourism industry are likely to be limited because the Dutch are not among the most prominent of New Zealand’s international tourism markets, unlike Australia, Britain, United States, China and Japan (Ministry of Tourism, 2009). Adverse press such as this is more likely to have an effect on the more lucrative domestic market that is

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continually exposed to sensationalised media accounts that depict New Zealand society as dangerous. The murder of British tourist, Karen Aim, has also become part of the discourse in regards to the effects that crimes against tourists can have on New Zealand’s image. Karen Aim was attacked and murdered in Taupo in 2008 (BBC, 2009; Eriksen, 2009; NZPA, 2009; Sky News, 2008). The media reaction to her death was representative of the emotions felt by the community, her parents and others, yet was exaggerated in its frequency and sensationalist manner. By referring to this incident as ‘ghastly’ and ‘vicious’, the articles tempt the reader to visualize the experience of the murder (BBC, 2009; Eriksen, 2009; NZPA, 2009; Sky News, 2008). Utilising these adjectives and their connotations, the articles can be seen as exaggerating the potential fear of victimization felt amongst those who read the stories. To further highlight the devastation caused by the crime, the article contains comments from the victim’s family, such as: ‘It’s felt as though we’re watching a bad film on the television and could we not change channels? But we’re stuck on this channel for the rest of our lives… We just wish that we could change over, instead of this absolute nightmare that we’re going through’ (Sky News, 2008). This indicates to the readers what the family of the victim is going through due to their loss, and whilst it is understandable that a family would be grieving during such a time, it also serves to show potential tourists exactly what would happen if they too were murdered whilst in New Zealand on holiday. If the tragic death of Karen Aim generated a moral panic it could have profound effects on New Zealand’s image as a safe destination for tourists where the lucrative British tourism market is concerned. Crimes such as these can have substantial long-term consequences for the country involved (Pizam, 1999; Tynon and Chavez, 2006). However, there is no evidence to suggest that Karen Aims untimely demise had any impact on British tourists’ choice of destination, and the United Kingdom has not issued a travel warning to dissuade their citizens from vacationing in New Zealand. It appears that the British authorities do not perceive New Zealand as a nation state folk devil. If anything the British view Australia with considerable suspicion regarding the safety of tourists, given incidents like the aforementioned Milat and Murdoch murderers, as well as the mass murder perpetrated by Robert Long during an arson attack on a backpackers hostel (see Mawby, 2010). Even so, the real risk of becoming 44

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a victim of homicide while on vacation in Australia is low (Venditto and Mouzos, 2006). Without any form of social reaction there is no discernible moral panic in Britain and New Zealand’s image as the nation that embodies the rural idyll remains intact. Instead, the murder of Karen Aim appears to have had a greater effect on New Zealand citizens that perceive this incident as another in a line of crimes committed against international tourists. Media Depictions of Crime against Domestic Tourists The domestic tourism market accounts for the largest portion of vacations taken in New Zealand, and the issues that affect international tourists can also be seen to alter the perceptions and behaviour of their domestic counterparts. Arguably, residents of New Zealand may have a better understanding of the risks associated with certain areas or activities. Nevertheless, over exaggerated media portrayals of crime ensures that New Zealand’s domestic tourists are affected adversely by the fear of crime. The Rotorua District Perceptions of Safety Survey (2009) indicates that residents are concerned about the impact that crimes have on their community which increases their fear of crime and dangerous areas (APR Consultants, 2009). Therefore, those residents who are anxious about the supposed dangers posed by crime may, to some extent, take these concerns into account when choosing where to take their vacations. It is a popular New Zealand tradition to go to the bach or camping ground over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, with many families vacating the city in search of their own slice of paradise near the beach or lake (Buttle, 2006). However, New Year’s revellers are also located within these areas, and popular holiday destinations such as the Coromandel Peninsula become places for youth to congregate and celebrate the New Year (Koubaridis, 2007). When youth, alcohol and revelry mix the consequences of inebriation is assumed to result in violence (Mawby, 2012). The reputation for disorder in these areas has developed over the years, where they are reported as trouble spots characterised by drunken celebrations and crimes such as drunk and disorderly, driving under the influence, theft, burglary, assaults and sexual crimes. Nelson proved to be the nation's black spot when it came to New Year celebrations last night. While revellers nationwide largely behaved themselves, Nelson police were struggling to cope with a number of serious offences, including three reported rapes and an alleged stabbing… Senior Sergeant Stu Koefoed said ‘59 people were arrested. Among the more serious charges were an attempted murder, an indecent assault, three counts of male assaults female and two of

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assault’… Officers also had their work cut out for them on the Coromandel Peninsula, where they were kept busy throughout the night with disorder and liquor ban offences, and a number of assaults and fights. About 155 people were arrested at Whangamata and 38 at Whitianga (NZPA, 2010b). Therefore, residents and tourists alike are confronted with an area that is perceived as having an increase in crime over the holiday period. The fear of victimization due to this may result in domestic tourists staying at home or going elsewhere. In addition, the usual reports of drunken arrests and violence that occur over New Year’s are often portrayed on the news, which further associates crime and inebriated revellers with that particular location. It is also notable that international tourists might be involved with these incidents and backpackers in particular are often stereotyped as criminal (Peel and Steen, 2007). In the case of incidents of serious crime that do not involve the victimization of international tourists the media reports less about how these crimes are an exception to the rule and focus more on the implied innocence of the victim as well as how the crimes breach the traditional family values that are assumed to characterise the social identity of New Zealand. Drunken thugs prevented a young mother and her baby leaving a Wanaka camping ground during a New Year’s Eve riot … Jorden Wyatt … said ‘the woman was trying to drive away in her car but a group of young men with shaved heads would not let her go’ … The riot Started at the Albert Town camping site after the men had rolled over a car they had painted with obscene words and set it alight. Mr Wyatt said … ‘it was his first time at the Department of Conservation-run camping ground and he would not be going back’ (New Zealand Herald, 2006). Here the discourse is situated in the production of outrage to produce social censure and unlike reportage that involves international tourists victims there are no statements that repudiate challenges to the rural idyll. This is probably because the media understands that domestic tourists have less need to buy into the rural idyll when shopping for vacations than their international counterparts. It must also be noted that when reporting violence and disorder by domestic tourists the news media does identify drunken youths as a folk devil. This may not be a group of people that are as easily identifiable as Cohen’s ‘mods’ and ‘rockers’ but this is a section of society that stereotypically is often considered troublesome (Mawby, 2012).

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Is Volume Crime the Real Problem? While the press often sensationalizes homicide, it is still a rare occurrence in New Zealand (Newbold, 2000). Senior Sergeant Nicky Sweetman of the New Zealand Police succinctly describes the core issue: “Attacks on tourists are not on the increase but they do get a lot of media attention” (The Press, 2009b). It is rare for people to become victims of homicide while on vacation (Venditto and Mouzos, 2006). Indeed, vehicle crimes against tourists are far more numerous than homicides. According to Kazmierow, et al (2009) travelling by vehicle is the most accessible and convenient way for a tourist to view the countryside, yet New Zealand, like many other western countries, has a significant amount of vehicle crimes (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). What makes matters worse is that tourists themselves are especially susceptible to theft from a motor vehicle, because they believe themselves to be safe while on holiday (Brunt et al., 2000; Pelfrey, 1998; Pizam, 1999). Losing passports, travel documents and accommodation bookings can be a huge inconvenience for a tourist and as such a number of travel organizations have issued precautions about leaving valuables in a vehicle or parking in certain locations (Kazmierow et al., 2009). Tourists are more vulnerable to crime involving a motor vehicle due to the natural actions of travelling (Kazmierow et al., 2009). By frequenting areas that are conducive to crime, such as isolated car parks or areas with a high turnover of vehicles, and presenting themselves as lucrative targets for crime the chances of victimization are greatly increased (Kazmierow et al., 2009). This in itself may have the potential to erode New Zealand’s status as the quintessential rural idyll. The Rotorua District Perceptions of Safety Survey indicated that approximately twenty percent of the respondents felt that factors such as the high crime rate or the possibility of violent crime made Rotorua an unsafe town to live in (APR Consultants, 2009). However, a survey conducted in Britain by Brunt, et al (1999) indicated that only nine percent of tourists felt crime played a considerable role in their choice of destination. This highlights an interesting comparison between the role that crime plays between residents of a location and visiting tourists. As noted by Harper (2001), a common trend is that tourists are more likely to become the victims of larceny, theft or robbery than residents of that particular location. The features that draw tourists to New Zealand, its scenic beauty and the vision of a pristine rural idyll, also prompt them to visit isolated locations that may put them in closer proximity to crime (Harper, 2001; 47


Kazmierow et al., 2009). Also, potential tourists are not particularly concerned about the prospect of crime at their destination despite the possibility that their actions will enhance the risk of becoming victims (Kazmierow at al, 2009). Conclusion New Zealand owes much of its international reputation as a rural paradise to Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’, which showcased the beauty of this country to the world (Bell, 2008; Buchnann, Moore, and Fisher, 2010; Hudson and Ritchie, 2006). The promotion of New Zealand as the embodiment of the rural idyll is ongoing and fairly strong in the minds of international tourism markets. Furthermore, the strength of the rural idyll in the minds of international tourists is to be expected because unlike their domestic counterparts they are not constantly exposed to sensationalised media reports about crime in New Zealand. Much like other civil societies, New Zealand is a country with no shortage of social problems and in reality is far from a crime free paradise. Therefore, there are occasions when challenges to the notion of the rural idyll arise from sensationalized media coverage of serious crimes such as homicide, violence and sexual assaults. Indeed, future research may consider the effect that international news coverage of the Christchurch earthquakes have had on tourist perceptions of how safe New Zealand is as a vacation destination. There is a notable difference between how the news media represents crimes against domestic and international tourists. Serious crimes against international tourists are constructed in a way that while sensationalising the act of violence still refutes any perceived challenge to New Zealand’s international image as a nation that embodies the rural idyll, by portraying the act of violence as being exceptional for an otherwise peaceful community. Importantly, there is no identification of an enemy for the public to feel concerned about, the folk devil fails to coalesce leaving only an intangible criminal other to worry about. Conversely, news media coverage of crimes committed against domestic tourists focuses on violence and disorder without any attempt to refute a breach of New Zealand’s rural idyll. Furthermore, there is an identifiable enemy for the public to be concerned about in the predictable form of the drunken violence prone youth that so easily assumes the role of folk devil in the public imagination. To this extent, media generated moral panics regarding crimes against domestic tourists may be more discernible and stronger than those that emerge from crimes against international tourists. 48

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Cohen’s notion of the moral panic paradigm was a useful means of examining how media accounts of crime, elicited fear in prospective tourists. However, frequent sensationalised reporting of crime does not always lead to a discernible moral panic that elicits public fear (McRobbie and Thornton, 1995). A moral panic is when reported crimes generate anxiety strong enough to produce a social reaction. In one instance a social reaction manifested in the production of a travel warning by the Dutch state to its citizens, which portrayed New Zealand as akin to a folk devil and refuting the image of a rural idyll for the less favourable anti idyll. However, even a discernible moral panic such as this may not have a significant impact on New Zealand’s tourism trade. The effect that this travel notice had on New Zealand’s tourism trade was minimal because Dutch tourism is only a marginal market and coverage of the crimes that created this moral panic did not have a similar impact on other countries whose citizens had not been victimized. Furthermore, when a homicide against a tourist of British nationality was sensationally reported New Zealand’s close association with the rural idyll was so strong that a discernible moral panic failed to coalesce. While some Dutch holidaymakers may have been deterred from booking a vacation, it is New Zealanders whose fears were more likely to be exacerbated. When an international tourist becomes a victim of serious crime, some residents of the area where the crime occurred express concerns about being victimised as well as a degree of trepidation regarding the local economy and they proffer denials like ‘this never happens in our peaceful town’ (Wallace, 2008) in order to preserve the tourist friendly image of the rural idyll. Unlike international tourists, domestic tourists are constantly exposed to over sensationalized serious crime coverage by New Zealand’s media, as well as reports about the victimization of international holidaymakers. So for the domestic tourism market, it is probable that the image of New Zealand as a rural paradise has never been as strong as it is in the international market. As is often the case, moral panics exaggerate the severity and frequency of serious crime diverting public attention away from more pertinent threats. A more realistic concern for domestic and international tourists remains the risk of becoming a victim of less serious criminal activity such a theft (Harper, 2001), although many tourists appear to be less concerned about the risks posed by more mundane volume crimes such as theft and vehicle crime (Brunt et al, 1999; Kazmierow et al, 2009). 49


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New Zealand Sociology Volume 29 Issue 2 2014 Jones, J. (1998) Challenging the Myth of the “Rural Idyll”: A Review Essay of Rural Crime, Disorder and Social Control in England and Wales. The Menai Papers. 1. University of Wales: Bangor. Kazmierow, B. J., Cessford, G. R., Wilson, C. H., Mayhew, P. & Morrison, B. I. (2009) Vehicle crime at outdoor recreation and tourist destinations: prevalence, impact and solutions. Wellington: Department of Conservation. Kelly, H. (2011) How the Hobbit dispute was to justify curbs to the actors’ union. Retrieved 30 November 2012 from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree /2012/nov/30/hobbit-actor-union-dispute Kohler, A. (2009) Attack hits NZ's safe image. Retrieved 20 December 2009 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10592595&pnum= 1 Koubaridis, A. (2007) Police operation gears up for New Year's Eve revellers. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 December 2009 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ coromandel/news/article.cfm?l_id=123&objectid=10484599 Lewis, R. & Gillespie, K. (2008) Text message halts 'sickening attack' on teen tourists. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 July 2010 from Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Manson, P. (2003) Criminal visions: media representations of crime and justice. Willan Publishing. Marshall, C. & Rossman, G. (2006) Designing Qualitative Research. London: Sage. McRobbie, A., & Thornton, S. L. (1995) Rethinking 'moral panic' for multi-mediated social worlds. The British Journal of Sociology, 46 (4): 559-574. Mawby, R.I. (2000) Tourists’ Perceptions of Security: The Risk Fear Paradox. Tourism Economics, 6 (2): 109-121. Mawby, R.I. (2010) Violent Crime and Tourists. In D. Botterill, & T. Jones (eds.) Tourism and Crime: Key Themes. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers LTD. Mingay, G.E. (1989) Introduction. In G.E. Mingay (eds.) The Rural Idyll. London: Routledge. Ministry of Tourism: Te Manatu Tapoi (2009) Key Tourism Statistics. Wellington New Zealand Government. Moore, D.A. & Loewenstein, G. (2004) Self-Interest, Automaticity, and the Psychology of Conflict of Interest. Social Justice Research, 17 (2): 189-202. Mordue, T. (2009) Television, Tourism and Rural Life. Journal of Travel Research, 47 (3):332-245. Neumayer, E. (2004) The Impact of Political Violence on Tourism. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 48 (2): 259-281. Newbold, G. (2000) Crime in New Zealand. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press. New Zealand Herald (2006) Thugs stopped mother and baby leaving camp ground. Retrieved 6 December 2009 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c _id=1&objectid=10362185 New Zealand Herald (2008) Tourists told New Zealand not 'safe country'. Retrieved 18 December 2009 from: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/11766/tourists-told-newzealand-not-039-safe-country039 New Zealand Herald (2009) Key Smiles as Letterman Mocks NZ. New Zealand Herald. 25th Sept. Retrieved 14 June 2010 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ news/article.cfm?c_id=1& objected =10599553 New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (2002) Scoping the Lasting Effects of The Lord of the Rings. A Report to the New Zealand Film Commission. Thorndon, Wellington: New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

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Buttle and Rodgers NZPA. (2008) Man arrested for tourist attacks. Retrieved 3 January 2010 from: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/2050069 NZPA. (2009) Karen Aim's father vows to fight to keep killer in jail. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 December 2009 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/taupo/news/ article.cfm?l_id=303&objectid=10564466 NZPA. (2010b) Nelson, Coromandel take 'worst-behaved' awards. Retrieved 3 February 2010 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1& objectid=10618037&pnum=2 Noy, C. & Kohn, A. (2010) Mediating Touristic Dangerscapes: The Semiotics of State Travel Warnings Issued to Israeli Tourists. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 8 (3): 206-222. Peel, V. & Steen, A. (2007) Victims, Hooligans and Cash-Cows: Media Representations of the International Backpacker in Australia. Tourism Management, 28 (4): 1057-1067. Pelfrey, W. V. (1998) Tourism and Crime: A Preliminary Assessment of the Relationship of Crime to the Number of Visitors at Selected Sites. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 22 (2): 293-304. Pizam, A. (1999) A Comprehensive Approach to Classifying Acts of Crime and Violence at Tourism Destinations. Journal of Travel Research, 38 (1): 5-12. Pizam, A. & Mansfeld, Y. (eds.) (1996) Tourism Crime and International Security Issues. Chichester: Wiley. Porteous, D. (2009) Dutch tourists attacked. Retrieved 3 January 2010 from: http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/southland/39558/dutch-tourists-attacked Potter, G. W., & Kappeler, V. E. (1998) Constructing Crime: Perspectives on Making News and Social Problems. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc. Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour. London: Sage. Pritchard, D. & Hughes, K. D. (1997) Patterns of Deviance in Crime News. Journal of Communication, 47(3): 49-67. Pryor, I. (2005) The Locals. The Film Archive: Nga Kaitiaki O Nga Taonga Whitiahua, The New Zealand Film Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2010 from: http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/feature-project/pages/Locals.php Reiner, R. (2007) Media-Made Criminality - The Representation of Crime in the Mass Media. In M. Maguire & R. Morgan (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminology (4th ed.) London: Oxford University Press. Reisinger, Y. & Mavondo, F. (2005) Travel Anxiety and Intentions to Travel Internationally: Implications of Travel Risk Perception. Journal of Travel Research, 43 (3): 212-225. Rojek, C. (1997) Indexing, dragging and the Social Construction of Tourist Sites. In C. Rojek, (eds.) Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel and Theory. London: Routledge. Savage, J. (2007) Backpacker rape charges. Retrieved 18 December 2009 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/print.cfm?c_id=1objectid=10422368&pnum=0 Short, B. (2006) Idyllic Ruralities. In P. Cloke, T. Marsden, & P.H. Mooney (eds.) Handbook of Rural Studies. London: Sage. Sky News (2008) Karen Aim Murder In New Zealand: Briton's Dad Devastated. Retrieved 18 December 2009 from: http://news.sky.com/skynews/home/Sky-NewsArchive/Article/2008/Karen-Aim-Murder-In-New-Zealand-Briton's-Dad-Devastated Statistics New Zealand. (2006) Crime in New Zealand: 1996-2005. Wellington, New Zealand.

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New Zealand Sociology Volume 29 Issue 2 2014 Swaffield, S., & Fairweather, J. (1998) In Search of Arcadia: The Persistence of Rural Idyll in New Zealand Rural Subdivisions. Journal of Environment Planning and Management, 41 (1): 111-127. Tarlow, P. (2000) Creating Safe and Secure Communities in Economically Challenging Times. Tourism Economics, 6 (2): 139-149. Taylor, C. & Nicholls, L. (2009) Rape shuts down camp. Retrieved 18 December 2009 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=105524 01 The Press (2009a) Dutch tourists warned after rape. Retrieved 3 January 2010 from: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/807496 The Press (2009b) Tourists warned about South Island danger spots. Retrieved 3 January 2010 from: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/802244 Tolich, M. (2001) Research Ethics in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Auckland: Longman. Tynon, J.F. & Chavez, D.J. (2006) Adopting a Tourism Crime Typology: Classifying Outdoor Recreation Crime. Journal of Travel Research, 44 (3): 298-307. Selby, M., Selby, H. & Botterill, D. (2010) Tourism, Images and Fear of Crime. In D. Botterill, & T. Jones (eds.) Tourism and Crime: Key Themes. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers LTD. Ungar, S. (2001) Moral panic versus the risk society: the implications of the changing sites of social anxiety. The British Journal of Sociology, 52 (2): 271-291. Venditto, J. and Mouzos, J. (2006) ‘The murder of overseas visitors in Australia’, Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice, no.316 From www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi316t.html Waddington, P. A. J. (1986) Mugging as a Moral Panic: A Question of Proportion. The British Journal of Sociology, 37 (2): 245-259. Wallace, A. (2008) Things like that don't happen here: Crime, place and real estate in the news. Crime Media Culture, 4 (3): 395-409. John Buttle is a senior lecturer in criminology for the School of Social Sciences at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) where he teaches on the popular criminology degree. He has written on matters to do with ethical policing, police deviance, the use of force, restorative justice and rural crime. John’s current research focuses on policing in Indonesia. James Rodgers is a PhD student at The University of Auckland. The main focus of his research is investigating the role of international prison museums in educating, entertaining, and shaping public attitudes regarding prisons, and the cultural and penal heritage of these sites. Other research interests include media representations of crime and moral panics.

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Pacific Insoluble: Contemporary issues in New Zealand’s refugee quota policy Murdoch Stephens

Abstract Since 2009 Foreign Affairs and Trade have increasingly refocused on New Zealand’s role in the Asia-Pacific region. Refugee policy has not been excluded from this approach. This article, using Cabinet documents obtained under the Official Information Act, studies the major changes in this period. These changes are (1) the introduction of regional-specific quotas and (2) a repurposing of the emergency portions of the quota. The study finishes with a commentary based on three measurements of New Zealand’s contribution to the acceptance and resettlement of the world’s burgeoning refugee population. Since the 2008 election of a National-led coalition government, New Zealand’s refugee policy, like much of that involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has refocused on the (a) Pacific and Asia-Pacific regions and (b) how New Zealand can gain from these relationships. The refocus, led by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), has seen numerous changes to the make-up of the annual refugee quota. This paper highlights a selection of these changes, giving detail and highlighting some of the tensions created between New Zealand and international organisations, such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), that administer the refugee quota scheme. I begin with some background to broader foreign affairs issues in New Zealand and point to the specifics that this study will address. Next I offer a section on methods that explains my use of OIA documents and some limits of this approach. I then give a background to the quota system before describing two important changes to the New Zealand refugee quota system in the last five years. The final section offers a commentary on New Zealand’s contribution to global resettlement of refugees, including a contrasting of three measures for showing what New Zealand is doing. I use those considerations as a basis for asking whether New Zealanders are ‘doing our bit’, then compare my assessment with those more historical claims made by Spoonley and Bedford (2012) and Beaglehole (2013). 55


I have previously published a number of these changes in truncated form in press releases (Stephens, 2013a; 2013b; 2014a) and articles for online news sources (Beals & Stephens, 2013; Stephens, 2013c; 2013d). This article goes into much more detail and collects those writings into a singular narrative. The process of researching this article has necessitated a deeper contemplation of the materials in the Official Information Act releases that has led to a clearer insight as to the rationale that has led to these changes. Background to the issue, delimiting the study and literature overview 2009 was a notable year for Foreign Affairs in New Zealand. New Minister, Murray McCully, led a reform of the NZAID programme away from poverty alleviation and towards economic development (McCully, 2009). This change led to a media debate about the role of NZAID (Kay, 2009; Gower, 2009; Campbell, 2009) as well as several academic criticisms of the narrower economic focus (see Overton, 2009, McGregor, Challies, Overton, & Sentes, 2013; Bridgman, 2011). The same year saw the beginning of a major reform of the New Zealand refugee resettlement quota programme. In contrast to debate around changes to NZAID, there has been scant attention in academic literature given to the changes within the refugee resettlement programme. This five-year period saw major changes to the composition of the quota in terms of the implementation of new regional quotas and the repurposing of the emergency sub-quota away from dealing with individual refugee-centred emergencies and towards large-scale emergency situations and the prospect of ‘emergencies’ in the sense of a mass boat arrival. The focus of this article is on the composition of the refugee quota and not on internal issues around the quality of the resettlement programmes or on asylum seeker policy. Quota changes, in contrast to the actual content of the resettlement programmes, have seen relatively little focus in the media or scholarly articles. This omission could be because the everyday needs of refugees are more pressing for those involved in the health, resettlement or advocacy circles, or alternatively, because of the fickle nature of the relationships between those working in refugee field and those in the media. The scope of this article is also limited to exclude internal resettlement issues such as those surrounding the recent adoption of the New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy (NZRRS), and the merging of Refugee Services with the Red Cross. I exclude these matters for two reasons: practical issues of 56

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resettlement that have been well addressed elsewhere (see, for example Elliott, 2007; ChangeMakers Refugee Forum, 2012; Bloom & O’Donovan, 2013; Woodley & Williams, 2012; Labour Group (MBIE), 2012; Pahud, Kirk, Gage & Hornblow, 2009) 1 ; there is sufficient material to solely focus on changes to how New Zealand selects refugees for resettlement without looking into their post-settlement lives. My focus is also not specifically on asylum seekers even though that is a burgeoning issue for New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. The work of Tracey Barnett has documented these matters across numerous newspaper stories (2013b; 2014), the ‘We Are Better Than That’ campaign (see Harper, 2012), and her book ‘The War on Asylum Seekers’ (2013a). Despite not specifically looking at changes such as the Immigration Amendment (also known as the ‘Mass Arrivals’) Act, I will analyse material such as the 150 places in the emergency situations sub-category that show New Zealand is becoming more like Australia in terms of these streams tending to merge. Beaglehole’s (2013a) history of refugees in New Zealand goes into some detail on refugee issues from the last five years: the asylum seeker exchange with Australia in 2013, the collection of biometric data of new refugees and the arrival of Afghan interpreters from Bamiyan (though they were not part of the quota). The recent changes that I will focus on have not completely settled nor have been covered by mainstream media, so their exclusion from a general history is to be expected. The reason for the focus on the last five years is twofold. First, Beaglehole (2013a) aptly details analysis of the refugee quota up to that time. Second, the end of 2008 saw a change in government. It was only in 2009 that these changes started to take place, so the somewhat arbitrary five-year mark is also intended to cover the two periods of the fifth National-led government of New Zealand. The importance of this study is not just for considering refugee issues, but the more general humanitarian leanings of the present government. Offering residency to an asylum seeker or refugee is one of the most generous offers that a government can make to a foreign citizen. As such, an analysis of the changes to the formal methods by which a nation welcomes refugees can be considered a This is a comprehensive overview of academic and NGO writings on most facets of refugees in New Zealand under eleven categories (e.g. Health, Government, Housing) on an open wiki from ChangeMakers: http://nzrefugeeresearch.wikispaces.com/ 1

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bellwether of more general attitudes to foreign affairs, human rights and aid. Therefore, this study should interest those who are seeking to understand the changing demographics of New Zealand’s refugee population, but also a wider audience interested in the stance of the present government towards development, aid, immigration and human rights. Method This study makes use of material requested under the Official Information Act (OIA) (New Zealand Government, 1982). These materials include a range of internal documents produced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, successive Ministers of Immigration, the Department of Immigration, which was merged into the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in 2012, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Most of these documents have been requested and received in the public domain via FYI.org.nz - a website that facilitates, and makes public, OIA requests and answers2. Despite this, I will refer to specific government documents not by their OIA case numbers but by the original documents that they have come from. As this approach might make it more difficult for comparisons to be made to the original material without filing a new OIA request, the website for the document will be included, where possible, in the reference list. The use of OIA materials is problematic due to two interconnected factors. First, government departments redact the most sensitive of information under a range of clauses that not only protect the government’s relationships to other governments but which also protect their own department from disclosures that may make them less likely to offer free and frank commentary in the future. Price (2005) notes that the Ombudsman has consistently noted that this approach undermines the very aims of the OIA – to enable “more effective participation in the making and administration of laws and policies” (New Zealand Government, 1982; s4). The degree of importance of these redactions is one of those Rumsfeldian ‘unknown unknowns’ that make prognoses hazardous. As such, there may well be changes to the quota resettlement scheme that I have missed through their exclusion. Secondly, the Office of the Ombudsman polices the OIA system, which, in the words of its own chief is in ‘crisis’ due to underfunding (Bennett, 2012). 2

The specific list of OIA requests https://fyi.org.nz/user/m_stephens/requests

that

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informed

this

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This has led to a severe backlog in cases. My attempt to have the redactions to the documents I was supplied with challenged is currently with the Ombudsman, whose only progress in the thirteen months to date is to note that the first step in the process is to contact the Minister of Immigration. These two issues are particularly important when it comes to the section of this analysis that deals with the repurposing of the emergency situation subcategory of the quota. Price’s (2005) discussion of the use of section 6(a) of the OIA – withholding on the basis of threats to security and international relations, which was the section most often used with regards to the emergency quota provisions – and concludes with “suspicions that the government is not paying assiduous attention to the limited scope of the reasons for withholding information” (p. 39). The New Zealand Law Commission (2012) review of the OIA suggests that it has led to a ‘verbal culture’ instead of one with written records of conversations. This was less of a problem for this study as I only looked at briefings for ministers rather than the preliminary material around how these ideas came into place. Murray McCully, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the department which offered much of the sensitive information was quoted on record by the NBR in 1993, when he was Customs Minister as saying “We're in the business, after all, of getting ourselves re-elected, and would be pretty foolhardy not to be aware of potential hazards being released” (Harris, 1993; p. 40). Poot (1997) offers more examples of evasions of responsibilities under the OIA as well as how the Act influences the behaviour of civil servants. There is, however, much less information around using information acquired through the OIA as primary source material, suffice for comments such as Hager’s (2011) that considers it broadly as “the most important advance in freedom of information in New Zealand history” (p. 351). The Achilles Heel of this process, however, is that my requests redactions are not randomly placed in the papers and briefings released. The context of the redactions often gives very strong clues as to their content. Also, these redactions are subject to human failure and different redaction standards across different departments. As I will show in the section on the emergency subquota, inferences can be made, and follow up questions can be asked to triangulate some, but certainly not most, redacted information. Background to the refugee resettlement quota 59


New Zealand’s refugee resettlement quota was established at 800 individual places in 1987 as a means to formalise the nation’s intake of refugees. In 1997 the quota was reduced to 750 individual places and refugees had their flights paid for by the New Zealand government (Beaglehole, 2013a). The quota consists of 750 places plus or minus 10% (a range of from 675 – 825) sourced through the UNHCR from third-party host nations. For example, Burmese people become eligible for refugee resettlement once (a) they have left Burma and (b) registered with the UNHCR in a different country, for example, Thailand. These resettlement refugees are sometimes called quota refugees, or sometimes they are designated ‘offshore’ refugees as their applications are processed and their acceptance agreed upon before they arrive in New Zealand. This figure is in contrast to asylum seekers who are known as ‘onshore’ refugees as their applications begin once they have arrived onshore in a country that has signed the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. New Zealand is unique in the world as the only state to host more refugees via the resettlement system than apply every year as asylum seekers. For example, in 2012 there were 320 applications for asylum in New Zealand (UNHCR 2013a); New Zealand’s refugee quota offered places to 781 people (UNHCR 2013b). Over the same period, Australia received 15,786 asylum seeker applications (UNHCR 2013a) and took 5,937 through their quota (UNHCR, 2013b). Table one shows that countries with the most substantial intakes through the resettlement quota are geographically removed from the Eurasian continent: the United States of America, and Canada. Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom all took more than a thousand quota refugees in 2012 (UNHCR, 2013a) though this figure is dwarfed by the numbers of asylum seekers who apply every year for protection (UNHCR, 2013b). At the start of 2009 New Zealand’s refugee resettlement quota employed five sub-quotas: medical/disabled (up to 75), women at risk (at least 75), general protection (up to 600), emergency (up to 35), and family reunification (up to 300). Table two shows the quota composition for 2009/2010, 2012/13 as well as the decade’s averages (Department of Labour, 2009; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 2013a).

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Stephens Table 1: Refugee Quota resettlement and asylum applications for largest resettlement countries Country Refugee Quota Asylum applications3 resettled United States 66289 70770 Canada 9624 20500 Australia 5937 15790 Sweden 1873 43880 Norway 1228 9790 United Kingdom 1039 27 980 New Zealand 781 320 Table 2: Categories of refugee resettlement in New Zealand Category Refugees Refugees Average resettled resettled resettled over preceding 2009/10 2012/13 decade Medical/disabled Women at risk General protection Emergency Family reunification Total

23 118 437 5 126 709

19 61 594 0 77 751

25 69 404 7.5 192 698

Though Table two shows each category as distinct from one another, the Department of Labour (2009) shows that the Medical/Disabled and Women at Risk categories fit within the other three categories. New Zealand has received praise for its willingness to accept refugees who have medical needs or are disabled (Beaglehole, 2013a). The figure of ‘up to 75’ places, however, is misleading. International analysis of refugees with health requirements classify New Zealand’s intake in the same sentence as the ‘twenty or more’ policies of Norway and Denmark (Mirza, 2010). The New Zealand category of ‘up to 75’ places relates not only to the person who fits the medical/disabled category but also to any family that is resettled along with that person. The Department of Labour (2009) notes that the UNHCR has requested that (a) family reunification numbers are not included within the 750 quota and (b) that “New Zealand increase its overall resettlement quota to 1000 in light of increasing numbers of refugees in need” (p.6). 3

Source: UNHCR 2014a; Table One: ‘UNHCR asylum trends 2013: levels and trends in Industrialized Countries’. I have used the 2012 figures as these match those available for refugee quota statistics. However UNHCR (2014a) also shows a continued increase in asylum seekers numbers in 2013 with applications rising by 28%, with significant increases for Australia and the USA, but a halving of asylum applications for Canada.

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Changes to the Refugee Resettlement Quota This study will focus on two key changes: (1) the introduction of regional percentages for refugees and the associated decline in refugees from the Middle East and Africa; (2) the repurposing of the emergency quota including a subcategory of 150 emergency situation subcategory that has its use partially redacted under the Official Information Act. (1) The introduction of regional percentages for refugees The composition of the refugee quota by region had been ad hoc and split approximately three ways between the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific up until 2007 when 29 Colombians were included, rising to 96 in 2009. As part of the 2009 changes to MFAT, New Zealand moved its refugee quota resettlement focus to the Asia Pacific region4. Though the regional pressures already described were one reason for this move, a Department of Labour (2010a) Cabinet Paper listed the reasons for the refocus as three-fold: “cost pressures arising from refugee travel, broad security concerns and general pressures facing the region” (p.1). The same Cabinet Paper features a discussion over whether the entire refugee quota should shift to resettlement from Asia-Pacific or whether only 50% should be reallocated. Though one full page of material about the likely UNHCR response has been redacted, one line suggesting the UNHCR’s response remains: “These proposals go against UNHCR’s global objective to only offer resettlement to refugees in the greatest need, the majority of which are currently in Africa and the Middle East” (p.8). The same document also includes reference to a report from the Ministry of Justice that highlights possible inconsistencies with the Bill of Rights Act as a Pacific focus “could be seen to discriminate indirectly on the basis of ethnic or national origin” (p.10). They note that this is particularly important if the quota offered no possibility for family reunification for refugees of African and Middle Eastern descent. The percentage quotas eventually agreed to were as follows: 50% Asia Pacific; 15% Middle East; 17% Africa; 18% the Americas (Department of Labour, 2011). An important point to note is that refugees from Africa and the Middle East are only eligible if they already have family in New Zealand. In the Department of Labour (2010a) Cabinet Paper this is framed as an ‘opportunity’ 4

Asia-Pacific refers not to the refugee’s country of origin, but to their country of registration with the UNHCR. As such, Iranian and Afghan refugees by nationality, who are resettled from Malaysia would be considered to come from Asia-Pacific. That said, the vast majority of refugees from AsiaPacific have also originated in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Burma and Bhutan.

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for family reunification. Compared to the previous allocations, where these two regions made up two-thirds of all refugees and this included family reunification possibilities as well as the inclusion of new refugees, the term ‘opportunity’ is a little misplaced. Somewhat surprisingly, there was no comment on this matter from refugee communities in New Zealand apart from my belated analysis (Stephens, 2013c) and the subsequent focus by Syrian Solidarity New Zealand (2014). A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment briefing from 2013 (see figure one below) offers a comparison between the aim for the quota and the actual regional outcomes. Note the difference in the agreed quotas from the Department of Labour (2011) document mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

In another Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013c) briefing, the lack of opportunities for new refugees, other than family cases, is noted as the reason why so few refugees have been sourced from Africa and the Middle East. The same document recommends that the African and Middle East allocations “prioritise family-linked refugees but fill remaining places” (p.5) with non-family linked cases. A later response from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013d) shows that the Minister ignored the advice of his own department: “for the Africa and Middle East regions, the status quo be maintained; that is only family-reunification or family-linked cases would be selected from Africa and the Middle East.” (no page numbers; briefing point 5.) An indication of the future direction of the present government can be seen in the talking points briefing from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013e). In that paper, MBIE suggests that the family-linked criterion not be explicit. Much of the reasoning behind this is redacted, though given other sources (see Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment,

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2013d), it is reasonable to assume that the reason is that the UNHCR has been unable to find enough people to fulfil the regional quotas. The ‘indication’ suggested earlier is not that the family linking should be removed, but comes as an aside that mentions a “proposed merger of Africa/Middle East region”. A merger of regions, proposed or otherwise, is a departure from the reporting standards of the UNHCR. Appearing in a document discussing the ramifications of accepting 4% (33 people on average over the three years of this policy) of the refugee population from Africa, when prior to 2009 it had been about one third of the quota (196 people, on average, over the preceding seven years of the quota), the move seems to serve no purpose other than making New Zealand’s Africa and Middle East resettlement look better than it is. From a statistical point of view, merging Africa and the Middle East would make comparisons between New Zealand and other resettlement countries’ refugee intake more difficult. It would also obscure efforts to compare present regional allocations to past allocations. Given the tensions noted earlier between the UNHCR’s preference for settlement from these two regions and MFAT’s preference for a refocus on Asia-Pacific, such proposals seem to serve no practical humanitarian purpose. (2) The repurposing of ‘emergency’ provisions Up until 2010 the New Zealand government had a possible 35 places for ‘emergency resettlement’ within the quota. The Department of Labour (2010a) describes these places as for “refugees who need urgent resettlement, because of, for example, immediate risks to their physical safety” (p.2). Footnote three, at the end of that sentence, explains more: “In practice UNHCR submits around two or three emergency cases per year. These are drawn from countries worldwide and are not limited to areas where global or regional priorities have been allocated” (p.2). Statistics from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013a) show that while 2009/10 saw New Zealand take five people in the emergency category, none have been taken in the years since. Though there is no mention of getting rid of the emergency portion of the refugee resettlement quota, documents such as the Department of Labour (2010b) briefing only list the other sub-categories5. 5

It’s worth noting again that large parts of these documents are redacted under Section 6(a) of the Official Information Act. This section reads: “Good reason for withholding official information exists, for the purpose of section 5, if the making available of that information 64

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(i) 50 Large-scale emergency places An aide memoire from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013f) brings up the possibility of “resettling a small number of UNHCRmandated refugees who require emergency resettlement from large-scale refugee crisis situations” (p.2) such as that which had occurred in Libya and was occurring in Syria. Later the same year the number for the repurposed largescale emergency refugee quota was fixed at up to fifty places, as reported by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013g). The same document recommended taking a total of one hundred Syrian refugees to be resettled through this emergency quota over a two-year period. Despite this recommendation, agreement to implement this quota was only made public in February 2014 (Davison, 2014). The announcement came five months after sixteen other countries publicly agreed to resettle refugees from the Syrian crisis (UNHCR, 2013c) and a month after the United Kingdom decided to settle five hundred Syrian refugees through their fledgling quota system (see Wintour, 2014). The 50 large-scale emergency places are options for the three years beginning in 2013/14, though recent commentary from Baidaa Jarella (2014) at Amnesty International suggests that the emergency quota is not a permanent fixture. (ii) 150 ‘mystery’ Emergency Situations Category places For the four years between 2010/11 and 2013/14 there existed a category of 150 potential places in New Zealand’s annual refugee resettlement quota. When asked about this category, Minister of Immigration Woodhouse stated: “within the 750 quota there were 150 emergency places refugees for certain situations, the nature of which at that time was sensitive, and the particular Cabinet minute had that section of it redacted” (sic) (TVNZ, 2014b). As there has been some contention around exactly how much of a ‘mystery’ this category is, I have included figures two and three in an appendix for examples of what will be called the ‘mystery 150’ quota places. I have also referenced the documents, available online, that these images are from.

would be likely—(a) to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government of New Zealand”.

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Though the category has been redacted in the graphs of figure two and three, there is one reference to a category of 150 places in Department of Labour (2010b). There, point six states that “the results achieved to date from the selection missions undertaken during 2010/11 and 2011/12 to Asia-Pacific, Americas and Middle East regions indicate that the 150 Emergency Situations Category places would be best filled from the Asia-Pacific region” (their italics, p. 4). To get more insight into this category a comparison must be made to conversations in Department of Labour (2010a) that ask whether the Emergency Situations Sub-Category should be expanded, in addition to other grammar and syntax, inferences can be made about the mystery 150. For example, point four of the redacted 2010 document states “emergency situation could include [redacted] New Zealand experiencing its own mass boat arrival (p. 1). If the redacted portion of that quote does not refer to another country’s mass boat arrival, then why would the document use the language of “its own”? Similarly, point 10 of the same document indicate that mass arrivals in Australia constitute an emergency situation in New Zealand. “Pressure is likely to build on New Zealand to provide assistance in emergency refugee situations. Australia is experiencing an influx of boats carrying asylum seekers” (p. 3). As the Office of the Ombudsman was unable to help with the redacted information, I approached the Fairfax journalists about the secret category. This led to a first story in the Sunday Star Times (Kitchen, 2014a). Follow up media around this matter led the Minister of Immigration, Michael Woodhouse, to clarify that he did not deny the 150 places existed, but that they had not been used (Kitchin, 2014b). In an interview with Rachel Smallie, Woodhouse claimed that some of these 150 places were used for the resettlement of 100 Syrian refugees (TVNZ, 2014b). However, given that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013f) aide memoire discussed the creation of a new category for the large-scale refugee resettlement, this comment looks to be either confusion or an attempt to deflect from the question. Finally, the Emergency Situations Sub-Category finished in 2014/15 and was replaced with a formal ‘transferees’ relationship to take 150 asylum seekers from the Australian government’s detention centres in Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) and Nauru. The political difficulty around such an agreement has, as of publication, led Australian Premier Tony Abbott to suggest that this 66

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transferee relationship will not take place. Abbott does not wish for New Zealand to be seen as a possible ‘consolation prize’ for asylum seekers (Radio New Zealand, 2013). Instead, deals to resettle refugees in Cambodia (Laughland, 2014) and Papua New Guinea (Taylor, 2014) seem likely to go ahead. Commentary The following section addresses the international contribution of New Zealand to accepting and resettling refugees in contrast to the rest of the world. This section evaluates two claims that position New Zealand as (i) sixth and (ii) eighty-eighth in the world, shows the shortcomings of both claims and offers a third, less noted measure as a better statistic to evaluate New Zealand’s contribution. Most documents that try to measure New Zealand’s full refugee intake look at three potential streams: (1) the refugee resettlement quota, (2) accepted asylum seeker applications (3) the Refugee Family Support Category (RFSC). A Refugees as Survivors New Zealand (RASNZ) (2012) report uses statistics from 2004 to note that New Zealand’s annual intake is “up to 1500 places per year” (p. 8). This figure overestimates accepted asylum seeker numbers and assumes the full 300 RSFC places are filled. Including all refugees accepted under the three categories gives an average, over five years, of 978 people arriving per year as refugees, asylum seekers and RSFC. I will not include the RSFC figures in my comparisons below as there is not enough internationally comparable figures available for this form of immigration in contrast to the UNHCR figures on quota refugees and asylum seekers. When trying to work out a fair refugee quota intake accurate statistics are important both for the temporal task of comparing the present with the past, but also with the spatial comparison of one nation to another. The UNHCR (2014b) stresses the importance of statistics in their work and describe their aim as to provide “accurate, relevant and up-to-date statistics” (website). For New Zealand, Spoonley and Bedford’s (2012) overview of immigration states “per head of population, New Zealand has ranked as fifth in terms of refugees accepted and settled since the Second World War” (p.155). Though they do not provide an immediate citation, they go on to discuss that the majority of refugees settled here were UNHCR-designated with fewer asylum

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seekers. Spoonley and Bedford’s (2012) ranking is imported into the first page proper of Beaglehole’s (2013) history of refugees in New Zealand. Putting to one side the historical record on refugee and asylum seeker settlement, how does New Zealand rank in more recent comparisons? Minister of Immigration Woodhouse (2013a: 1), for example, notes “we have one of the highest refugee intakes per head of population in the world”. Months later, when setting the refugee quota for three more years, Woodhouse (2013b) was clearer, substituting ‘intakes’ with ‘accepting refugees referred by the UNHCR’ and claiming New Zealand’s place as ‘sixth equal’ in the world (p.1). While Woodhouse certainly becomes clearer over what he is claiming – “intake” equals “UNCHR resettlement quota” – he does not consider accepted asylum seekers as part of a total refugee intake6. Asylum seekers, as a category, have already arrived in New Zealand so Woodhouse might not consider them as an intake. Additionally, acceptance of an asylum seeker’s case and their gaining permanent residence are two separate processes, especially with the new threeyear review of the asylum case (see Bloom and O’Donovan, 2013). As Woodhouse is a politician it might be unfair to look to him for anything other than a use of facts for optimal electoral effect. Other politicians have used the reverse of his stance when it is convenient for them. For example, when David Cameron was determining what levels of Syrian refugees should be resettled into the United Kingdom as a response to the UNHCR’s requests he justified taking less people via a quota as “we are also fulfilling all our obligations in terms of asylum seekers, because we have taken over 1,000 asylum seekers from Syria in recent months” (Wintour, 2014). Some refugee advocates, myself included, have responded to politicians overstating of their country’s refugee intake by appealing to the authority of the UNHCR’s Statistical Yearbook (UNHCR, 2013b). Table 24 ‘Indicators of host country capacity and contribution’ ranks contributions from host countries based on people of concern to the UNHCR. This table draws figures from a 6

In early May 2014, when questioned over the quota, Woodhouse (2014) offered a more nuanced perspective, claiming that there was an argument to be made that because New Zealand received so few asylum seekers that the quota should be raised to meet that. However, he also noted that the immigration categories for Pacific Access and the Samoan quota “while not technically refugee” situations did offer other residency to people who would not normally be accepted by Immigration New Zealand. As New Zealand’s Pacific immigration is much higher than Australia’s per capita this might be considered a mitigating factor, however most countries do have similar formal and informal immigration possibilities that are offer equal opportunities. Similarly, other countries also offer family reunification and so New Zealand is not particularly special or exemplary in any of these migration opportunities.

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nation’s own reporting with some strange figures from New Zealand: 1517 people who are refugees and 276 asylum seeker pending cases. These refugee figures could be for two calendar years, though with the reporting on Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (2013a) figures only showing financial, rather than calendar, years it is hard to know. The refugee population reported by New Zealand is much lower than those claimed by other countries. The lesser figure reflects the lack of asylum seekers who can make it to New Zealand but may also be a function of (a) New Zealand’s reporting standards and (b) New Zealand’s relatively quick residency process that leads to refugees becoming permanent citizens and no longer being ‘of concern’ to the UNHCR7. As such, it could be argued that this figure underplays the numbers of refugees accepted by New Zealand in contrast to other nations. A third measure is needed. The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) (2013; Table Ten) has used the UNHCR statistics to create an alternative measure for refugee intake by isolating changes to refugee numbers in a single year of UNHCR reporting. The RCOA measure offers more of a balance between the hosting of large asylum communities, who may never be formally naturalised, and the formal processes of refugee resettlement through the quota. In 2012, there were 1,361,816 people recognised as asylum seekers by the country in which they sought refuge. This does not mean that they were given the permanent right to stay, but simply that they arrived and were recognised as refugees. By contrast 88,578 people were resettled under the UNHCR’s refugee resettlement quota (UNHCR, 2013; data organised by RCOA, 2013). Quota refugees resettled through the UNHCR are generally afforded better treatment as direct paths to citizenship are offered, as are established programmes that help with language acquisition and other necessary skills (see Bloom and O’Donovan, 2013 for more on the different treatment of asylum seekers and quota refugees). Focussing on the refugee resettlement quota without including accepted asylum seekers can be a political tactic used to make resettlement nations seem to be doing more than they are (see Stephens 2013a; ABC Factcheck, 2013). However, there is also merit to Australian Liberal Party Kelly O’Dwyer’s view (2014: 1) that hosting refugees is very different to resettling refugees: 7

Compare this 1517 to the 1,638,456 refugees in Pakistan, the majority of whom are Afghan refugees exiled during the fighting with the USSR and who remain without formal rights in Pakistan.

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“Generally hosting does not guarantee permanent residence in that country, so direct comparison with Australia's resettlement program is misleading”. Though ‘recognising’ (what O’Dwyer calls ‘hosting’) generally does not guarantee permanent residence it still requires substantial work from a host nation and that effort must be taken into account if people are looking to give a true statistical indication of what host nations are contributing to the welfare of refugees. I see the RCOA’s (2013) measure to be the best mid-point between the UNHCR’s (2013b) focus on hosting refugees and Woodhouse’s (2013a; 2013b) and O’Dwyer’s (2014) exclusion of asylum seekers from refugee statistics. In the Refugee Council of Australia’s table 10, New Zealand is ranked as 39 th in the world at recognising or resettling refugees per capita in 2012. When adjusted for New Zealand’s GDP – a country’s ability to host – this figure becomes 49th in the world. There is one major drawback to simply using the yearly measure. Countries, like Pakistan, that have previously received a significant number of refugees, are measured as doing less than countries that take the same number of refugees in more regular intakes. For example, in contrast to New Zealand’s 39th per capita, Pakistan is ranked as 78th, even though they still host more than two million registered refugees (UNHCR, 2013b) from earlier conflicts. A fact sheet produced on refugee trends in New Zealand by RCOA (2014) was circulated by the Refugee Council of New Zealand prior to a 2014 election debate on refugee issues. This fact sheet updated the 2013 figures and provided a number for resettled and recognised refugees over a decade long period. Though the annual figure was similar, the decade long measure had New Zealand at 50th per capita and 66th when adjusted for GDP. One recommendation to come from this study is for a UNHCR-based statistical measure of refugee hosting/ resettlement that takes into account naturalisation processes as well as mid to long term hosting such as RCOA decade-long measure. As the RCOA (2014) document is not easily available online, in contrast to the UNHCR statistics from which it is drawn, it can not yet be widely accepted as the best measure of a country’s contribution to accepting refugees. Conclusions This article has shown the changes to New Zealand’s refugee resettlement quota since the election of the fifth National government in late 2008. The two main changes to occur in that time frame were the introduction of regional quotas, 70

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including restrictions on new refugees from the Middle East and Africa, and two adjustments to the emergency category. The ultimate outcome of the new regional quotas were that 69% of resettled refugees were relocated from the Asia-Pacific region while only 4% and 10% came from Africa and the Middle East, respectively. It would not be inappropriate here to suggest that the “broad security concerns” mentioned in the Department of Labour (2010a) coincide with a reluctance to resettle refugees from predominantly Muslim countries. Given the UNHCR’s priorities were to resettle priority cases and that Africa and the Middle East were identified as those with the most priority cases, the regional changes are highly questionable from a humanitarian perspective. Though there is some merit in the move to satisfy a regional solution to asylum seeker issues, New Zealand has not broached other options to ease that problem while still maintaining its commitment to the UNHCRs resettlement programme. The repurposing of the emergency quota between 2010/11 and 2013/14 to take 150 emergency situations (which Department of Labour documents show to be linked to the potential for mass arrivals either here or abroad) indicates the present government’s preferred response to the regional issue: if asylum seekers make it to New Zealand, they will do so at the expense of refugees coming via the UNHCR system. This dual quota has been the approach of Australia and leads to tensions over which refugees are more legitimate. Despite the repurposing of the emergency quota scheme from 2010/11 until present no refugees have been listed as arriving as emergency situations. The contrast to the preceding years indicates that the reframing of what constitutes an emergency has changed. Prior to 2010/11 an emergency was a matter concerning the well-being of refugees. With the new emergency situations subcategory it has become a matter that threatens the borders of Australia or New Zealand. The original focus on individual emergencies has become obsolete. The introduction of the large-scale emergency quota offers hope for some humanitarian aspect to return to the refugee quota, though whether it will become a regular feature of the quota has yet to be seen. In the commentary section of this article, I have noted that New Zealand’s unique isolation in the world, combined with strict airport pre-screening has meant that it is the only nation with more refugees resettled via the quota system than apply as asylum seekers. This unique position has led to a difficulty 71


assessing New Zealand’s relative contribution to accepting, both resettling quota refugees and approving asylum applications. This study has suggested supplementing the rankings from quota resettlements per capita, favoured by the Minister of Immigration, and the hosting per capita, favoured by activists, with a third focus on the total intake of asylum seekers and resettled refugees in a calendar year as produced by the Refugee Council of Australia. Problems with this measurement, as suggested by Liberal MPs from Australia, mean that further research is needed into the relative weighting of hosting asylum seekers, accepting asylum seekers, resettling quota refugees and making nationals of those refugees and, hence, removing them from the statistics. Finally, to contrast with Beaglehole’s (2013a) summation that the refugee programme is “in good shape” (p. 183), I would venture to offer a dissenting opinion. Woodley and Williams’ (2012) overview of the resettlement sector suggest, “support is severely underfunded and severely stretched” (p.96). I would contend that if the quota programme is in ‘good shape’ this shape is dependent on New Zealand doing less than other developed nations due to the choices afforded by being the only nation that resettles more quota refuges than are received as asylum seeker applications. References

ABC Factcheck (2013) Liberal MP Kelly O'Dwyer incorrect on Australia's refugee intake. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the World Wide Web: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-24/liberal-mp-kelly-odwyer-incorrect-onaustralias-refugee-intake/5270252. Barnett, T. (2013a) The War on Asylum Seekers Wellington: Bridget Williams Books: Barnett, T. (2013b) Grim precedent pulls plugs on human rights standing NZ Herald. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/traceybarnett/news/article.cfm?a_id=309&objectid=10891405 Barnett, T. (2014) We don't want to play Australia's asylum game NZ Herald. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11209108 Beaglehole, A. (2013a) Refuge New Zealand: a nation’s response to refugees and asylum seekers. Dunedin: Otago University Press. Beaglehole, A. (2013b) Ann Beaglehole - History of refugees in New Zealand: Interview with Kathryn Ryan. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the World Wide Web: http://werewolf.co.nz/2013/11/our-silence-on-syrias-suffering Beals, E. and M. Stephens (2013) Our Silence on Syria’s suffering in Werewolf. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the World Wide Web: http://werewolf.co.nz/2013/11/our-silenceon-syrias-suffering/

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Stephens Bennett, A. (2012) ‘Watchdog in crisis, MPs told’ NZ Herald. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the World Wide Web: