New Zealand Immigration Minister Erica Stanford is under fire for saying she "never responds" to emails from Indians, because she considers them "akin to spam."
During a parliamentary session on May 6, defending her use of a personal Gmail account for official correspondence, Ms Stanford said, "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."
Indian-origin Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan condemned the remarks as insensitive and discriminatory.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender, Ms Radhakrishnan said, "Such comments reinforce negative stereotypes about an entire community," and called it unacceptable for a minister to single out a specific ethnic group.
Ms Radhakrishnan described the comments as "careless at best and prejudiced at worst." She pointed out that ministers receive unsolicited emails regularly, so there was no reason to single out emails from Indians. "Particularly given New Zealand's important relationship with India," she said, "comments like these serve to reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community of people."
Erica Stanford later clarified, saying she had been misinterpreted. "I did not say that I consider them as spam," she explained. "I only said that I consider them almost akin to spam."
She defended her statement, saying it referred to the volume and nature of unsolicited emails she receives on her personal email, not Indians specifically. "In this instance, I recalled a recent email I'd received of this nature when answering," she said.
Erica Stanford has been serving as New Zealand's Minister of Immigration since November 27, 2023. She assumed the role following the formation of the National-led coalition government under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Christopher Luxon visited India in March and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They discussed ways to strengthen ties between the two countries in areas like trade, defence, and education.
Both countries are working on a free trade agreement that they hope to finalise by the end of 2025. This deal aims to boost trade in important areas such as farming, minerals, medicines, and tourism.
Education is also a key area of cooperation. More than 15,000 Indian students study in New Zealand, which helps build strong people-to-people connections. The two countries are also planning to increase cultural exchanges in tourism, sports, and education.
