New Zealand’s Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has come under scrutiny after describing emails from Indian nationals seeking immigration advice as “akin to spam” during a recent parliamentary session, according to a report by The Times of India.
The remarks were made in response to a question from Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime, who asked whether all emails related to ministerial work sent or received through Stanford’s personal email account had been properly recorded. This inquiry followed Stanford’s earlier admission that she had used her personal email for some official communications, including pre-Budget documents.
Stanford assured Parliament, “I have complied with the Official Information Act. I have also made sure that everything is available to be captured and have forwarded everything that I’ve needed to my parliamentary email address.”
However, she added, “I will acknowledge, though, in a very similar case to Kelvin Davis, I receive a lot of unsolicited emails like, for example, things from people in India asking for immigration advice, which I never respond to. I almost regard those as being akin to spam, and so there are those ones. But, similarly, other ministers have probably had very similar issues.”
The comment sparked concern from Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan, born in Chennai and former Minister for Ethnic Communities. In a Facebook post, Radhakrishnan criticized Stanford’s choice of words, stating, “Earlier this week, in response to a question by @willowjeanprime, the Immigration Minister felt the need to single out people from one country/ethnicity in a negative light. If you’re from India, don’t bother emailing her because it’s automatically considered spam. So much for the National government’s all-of-government focus on strengthening the relationship between India and New Zealand and its emphasis on people-to-people links.”
Speaking to Indian Weekender, Radhakrishnan added, “Comments like these serve to reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community of people.”
In response to the backlash, Stanford later clarified, “I did not say they are spam. I said ‘I almost regard those as being akin to spam.’”
The incident has ignited a broader discussion about the way immigration-related communications are perceived and handled by government officials.
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