13 Nov 2019

Immigrant community leaders offer to teach Shane Jones about arranged marriages

From First Up, 5:28 am on 13 November 2019

South East Asian community leaders are offering to teach Shane Jones about arranged marriages. The New Zealand First MP is out of favour for telling those unhappy with immigration's clampdown on partnership visas to get on the first plane home. He then described the backlash over his comments as a "Bollywood overreaction". The Government is planning to reverse the tougher stance on the visas and exempt arranged marriages where couples can't fulfill the test of having lived together for twelve months. But it needs New Zealand First's support to do this. Sunny Kaushal has been meeting with leaders of groups from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He says some of the community are extremely hurt and they want to educate Mr Jones about their cultures.