Sixty percent against Gardners

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 47, 14 May 1985, Page 12

Sixty percent against Gardners

Sixty percent of callers to the Nick Nolan radio talkback show on 2ZB last Thursday, were against the Gardner family being allowed to stay in New Zealand. One man was so vehement in his views that the Ohakune farming family should go that he told the announcer "they are illegal overstayers, get rid of them!" A lady who believed that the Gardners and Balls should be allowed to remain said that she felt something very strong had drawn the family to New Zealand, to which Nick Nolan replied, "something very strong draws me to the bank but I can't just take the money!" When the Minister of Immigration, Kerry Burke. was interviewed. he said the family had a "higher public profile because they've bought a* farm." That was beside the point, he added, as they had been found guilty of overstaying and were to be deported as soon as possible. He was unable to confirm when the family would be leaving New Zealand other than that it would be soon. The appeal, he said, had been unsuccessful because "I did not think there were any exceptional or humanitarian grounds for them to stay." He explained that under the immigration laws which were changed in 1974, potential immigrants were to be under 45 years, have four children or fewer, be an entrepeneur or have an occupation that was deemed necessary. The Gardners and Balls meet none of these criteria despite fact that the work they have been doing with four teated ewes. is of value to New Zealand.

M rs Ann Gardner told the listeners that she felt her family should be allowed to stay as they were "a special ease." ■ She maintained that the research into four teated ewes which they are carrying out was valuable to the country. She added that they would now approach the Governor General about their case, but that if they were deported, they would bear no grudge against New Zealanders as "we have made some great friends here, friends who have been most supportive." Mrs Gardner was asked why it was proving difficult

to sell their farm which has been on the market for a year. She replied that much of their property was Maori lease land currently the subject of controversy. "We were aware that the land was Maori lease before we bought it," she concluded. The family — Charles and Ann Gardner, a daughter Jane, her husband Tom Ball and a younger Gardner daughter Sue, farm properties on Tohunga Road and Mangateitei Road. Tom and Jane also have two young children, Robbie and Angela.