It's an odd, old day when educationalists are at war with the Government. After all, education is a heavily unionised profession and the Labour Party is the party of the unions. 

But primary principals can't for the life of them see why the Government would be moving to ban schools enrolling foreign students. They are angry, they say, because they can only see upside to having kids from offshore that pay good money for a good education. Similar, but separate, is the current Government review into immigration. They want to make it harder to come here, despite the fact there isn't an employer or business anywhere that wouldn't welcome more labour. 

Is this Government essentially wanting to cut us off from the world? Do they see a small New Zealand, a fortress type New Zealand, where getting here is hard, if not impossible? Do they see a New Zealand where labour is permanently hard, if not impossible to find? And as a result, the economy shrinks, the state is omnipresent in people's lives and having the numerical financial and cultural benefits of the world being part of our lives is essentially a thing of the past? 

The Education Ministry paper that the ban on primary kids from overseas is based on says the practice should be stopped before year 9 because, it's unfair on schools that do not enrol foreign students. Is that communism? It's not that they can't enrol these students, they just don’t. And because they don’t, no one else should be able to as well. You are indulging the lowest common denominator. 

The paper goes on, foreigners put pressure on housing. True, but the answer? Build more houses. The advantage of that is you generate economic activity. This is economics 101.   

They say it also affects the teacher supply. Correct, but the answer? Train more teachers. More economic activity. Maybe even bring some teachers in from offshore. Result? You got it, economic activity. 

And to conclude the Ministry says it could distract schools from focusing on Kiwi kids. So, a class of 26 and two international kids in the front row getting lavished with attention while everyone else gets ignored? It's too farcical for words, and yet it's on Ministry letterhead. 

It looks like government policy. Fortress New Zealand continues to unfold in new and dangerous ways. If for no other reason, we need to get past Covid as quickly as possible so we can get more time and energy back into the unfolding destruction of this country and economy. 

Like rust, the ideologues never sleep.