Immigration NZ could have made any decision on the controversial speaker’s visa and it would’ve been better than a minister intervening.
It’s happened again. As the world turned and things progressed in their natural way, we as a country have managed to trip over our own feet, face first into a vat of eggs.
Immigration New Zealand has been “cracking down” a lot lately. They’ve been stricter on issuing visitor visas, particularly when they believe there’s a risk of someone overstaying. Two weeks ago the agency confirmed it was investigating popular Youtuber IShowSpeed’s visa status after concerns were raised that he had not applied for the correct working visa. (His free global promotion of all parts of New Zealand to millions of followers was raised as a reason to look past any visa errors.)
And a month ago, Immigration New Zealand denied controversial American speaker Candace Owens an entertainment visa. The reason? People excluded from other countries (ie denied entry) are automatically denied entry here. Owens’ Australian visa application was denied in October, with Australian immigration minister Tony Burke saying: “Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”
Owens is known around the world for her extreme views, ranging from anti-semitism (downplaying and at times outright denying the Holocaust), to conspiracy theories about pedophile rings at Disney. It was not particularly surprising that Australia denied her entry and even less surprising that Immigration New Zealand followed suit.
All we had to do, then, was nothing.
But Owens’ team got in touch with associate minister for immigration Chris Penk and asked him to intervene. “After considering representations made to him, including the importance of free speech”, Penk reversed the Immigration NZ decision and has granted Owens her visa for an event next year, a spokesperson for his office told Stuff.
The decision is being celebrated by the Free Speech Union and the like, and almost guarantees that her event will be the talk of town on both sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately it also means we once again enter the clown ferris wheel of outrage and counter-outrage that comes every time politicians get involved in these matters.
This isn’t even to suggest that I think Candace Owens should never have been granted a visa. In fact, part of me believes if she had simply been granted an Australian one, granted a New Zealand one, and held a mediocre event for her fans, it would have been less embarrassing and potentially less harmful than this.
Granting a visa is fine, if frustrating for some. Denying a visa is also fine, if frustrating for others. Denying a visa then granting it after a minister has had a free speech 101 chat with someone is the worst of all worlds.
What we should have done, at any point in this mess, is nothing.