Asian voters highlight the cost of living and crime as top election concerns

Asian New Zealanders say the cost of living and crime are the top issues for them at the upcoming general election.

A recent Ipsos survey shows the cost of living, crime, housing, healthcare and climate change are the top five issues that New Zealanders in general believe to be important.

Asian voters canvassed by RNZ on Tuesday have raised similar concerns, but also highlighted other issues such as the economy, education, immigration and racism.

Statistics from the 2018 census show that more than 15 percent of the New Zealand population, or more than 700,000 people, is Asian.

Electorates with the top three largest Asian populations are all in Auckland, with nearly half of the constituency in Mt Roskill (48.6%, 33,231 people) identifying as Asian. Botany (44.9%, 30,384 people) and Takanini (41.9%, 31,221 people) are not far behind.

At Mount Roskill's Three Kings Plaza, Filipino Marielle Rivera said the cost of living in New Zealand was proving to be a challenge.

"I can barely afford anything," Rivera said. "I can only afford to live now, nothing else. I can afford to just pay my rent and eat - that's it."

Itwinder Singh, who hails from India, echoed the pain, although also expressed concern about public safety.

"When the government removed the subsidy on petrol, fuel prices went up. The price for everything goes up with the fuel prices," Singh said. "Crime is also an issue as ram raids and all those things are still going on."

Jessie Chen, a New Zealand-born Chinese woman and mother of a 3-year-old boy, also worried about the cost of living and crime, as well as education. Her son had been placed on a kindergarten waiting list for eight months.

"I find sometimes it's really difficult to enroll for preschools and kindergartens around this area," Chen said. "A lot of the good private kindergartens are full, and the waiting list is just crazy."

She has also been waiting for six months for her husband's residency to be approved.

"Immigration is a real issue at the moment," she said. "I think the Immigration is just processing all the work visas and tourist visas, but the residency visas are taking a really long time."

In Botany, people were also concerned about rising living costs. Seventeen-year-old Vietnamese woman Kathy Ha came to New Zealand when she was a baby and has recently found work in a retail position. Although she was not eligible to vote, she said her parents would discuss the election with her.

"As a child of immigrant parents, (I know that) it's very difficult for them to find jobs. Their main source of income is working at bakeries and hospitality," Ha said. "I feel that the cost of living going up makes it very difficult for a lot of immigrant families to afford to live in New Zealand."

Jenny Wu, who is in her 60s, hoped the next government would be able to tackle crime.

"For elderly people like me, crime is the most important issue," Wu said. "If crime is too rampant, we'd be worried to go out."

Grocery shop owner Vicky Rana said nowhere was safe despite operating in what he called a "good neighbourhood".

"We've seen recently how the ram raids were increasing day by day," Rana said. "We close a bit late and sometimes we don't feel safe enough."

In Takanini, where more than 30,000 Asians also live, voters said they were also concerned about rising living costs. They also called on the next government to be wiser in budgeting and wanted harsher penalties for offenders.

Apart from feeling unsafe after both her car and her husband's vehicle were broken into while parked at the local train station, Filipino Maria Santillan said she also felt at risk as a person of colour after being confronted by another passenger on the train.

"He saw me as an Asian. He just said, 'You Asian, get off, get off your seat', she said. "I'm a victim of hate crime."

Advance voting starts on 2 October, and election day is Saturday, 14 October. Official results for the 2023 general election will be declared on 3 November.