From the Southland Times:

Foreign students ‘abused’
By DYLAN THORNE
Tuesday, 07 October 2008

Complaints about foreign students being abused in the streets have prompted two Invercargill leaders to plan meetings with skinheads to discuss the problem.

Two Indian students had already decided to return home this year after they were abused by a carload of youths, Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds said at a Venture Southland meeting yesterday.

Other Southland leaders cited instances of mothers being ignored at day care centres, 6-year-olds uttering racist remarks and migrants in rural areas feeling so isolated they visited the library simply to talk to someone.

SIT spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attracting foreign students to the region and acts of racism in the city were undermining its efforts, Ms Simmonds said. In a bid to tackle the problem, she and Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt were arranging meetings with Invercargill skinheads to discuss the issue.

Mr Shadbolt said a designated student area with a hostel needed to be established away from the central business district because anyone walking through the city at night faced the risk of being abused “even if you go out with a police patrol” .

“I’d hate to be wearing a turban walking up (the street in) Invercargill,” he said.

Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno said she had heard of migrants going into early childhood centres and being ignored and cited an example of a 6-year-old coming out with a racist statement. Council chief executive Dave Adamson said some migrants in rural areas were so isolated the library was the only place they could speak to someone outside their immediate family. National MP Eric Roy said he had heard of skilled migrants leaving Southland because they felt threatened.

The subject arose during discussion of a report commissioned by Venture Southland that estimated the Southland economy could grow by 2 per cent (baseline scenario) to 3.5 per cent (optimistic) each year between 2007 and 2031 and the region’s employment rate could grow from 50,500 in 2007 to between 51,600 and 67,100 by 2031.

New migrants are expected to play a major role in combating the region’s labour shortage.

Venture Southland enterprise and strategic projects group manager Steve Canny said it planned to meet community boards and community workers before Christmas to discuss how the cultural makeup of communities was changing and how they could support new migrants.