@chrisluxonmp boasts of importing younger, better qualified immigrants. A recent report highlighted by Simon German @simongerman600 says immigrant children score 19 points higher on tests. There’s the comparison. But what about the cost nobody measures? New Zealand’s children rank 38th out of 38 on UNICEF’s child mental well-being table. Our children are struggling at school and with their mental well being long before they enter the workforce. Meanwhile, 25% of Kiwi teenagers are reportedly unemployed, around seven times the adult rate. Unemployment among those under 25 is another part of the picture. Adults with degrees arrive into an economy where our own young people struggle to find their first job. And what does Luxon do? Penalise the parents. From November, the Government will require eligible 18 and 19 year olds to pass a parental assistance test to qualify for Jobseeker Support. Those struggling to find work become a financial responsibility shifted onto their families. The uncomfortable part is what comes next. One in three foreign born adults here already holds a degree, and we’re preparing to bring in another 38,000 international students. Yet we keep invoking a skills shortage while too many Kiwi teenagers cannot get a foot in the door. At what point does a skills shortage become a failure to develop our own talent? A country cannot endlessly celebrate the qualifications of those it imports while neglecting the prospects of those growing up here. Our children deserve the chance to succeed at school, enjoy good mental well being and find meaningful work when they leave education. There is also a question of political responsibility. If Section 131 of the Human Rights Act is intended to address certain forms of inciting racial disharmony, the standard must be applied according to the law and the evidence. But political rhetoric that reinforces racial divisions deserves scrutiny, too. Legal liability and political accountability are not the same thing. Luxon’s words may be intended as celebration. The concern is what they obscure: the risk that New Zealand’s own young people become an afterthought in a system that prizes pre-selected qualifications over developing local potential. We cannot keep calling it a skills shortage when the shortage confronting so many Kiwi teenagers is a first job. It's time to hold the NZ Government accountable.