Sovereign has accused several New Zealand media outlets and commentators of misrepresenting immigration provisions contained within the recently signed New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement, arguing that critics of Winston Peters failed to acknowledge uncapped visa pathways and family reunification clauses embedded in the agreement.
In a social media post, Sovereign leader Joshua Riley said reporting around Peters’ criticism of the deal had selectively focused on capped visa categories while omitting broader provisions contained in Annex 8K of the agreement.
Riley pointed to comments from Education Minister Erica Stanford, who said a visa category linked to the deal “will not allow for partners or children” and rejected Peters’ interpretation of the agreement. However, Riley cited wording from Annex 8K Section F, which states authorities “shall allow the entry and temporary stay of the partner and any dependent children” accompanying eligible visa holders granted stays longer than 12 months.
The post also criticised commentary by reporting by legacy media outlet Stuff. Riley noted Stuff later added a clarification acknowledging Annex 8K contains multiple additional entry pathways beyond the agreement’s 5,000-person cap under Annex 8L, some of which are uncapped and allow stays ranging from 90 days to three years.
Riley further alleged state-funded RNZ failed to mention uncapped specialist and student visa categories when reporting on safeguards tied to the capped provisions. Riley said a formal complaint had been lodged with the Media Council alleging misleading reporting by omission under Principle 1 covering accuracy, fairness and balance.
FTA reporting trend: misrepresent the text of the FTA and use that to suggest it’s Winston Peters who’s wrong…
🔻 Erica Stanford: “The visa created for the Indian free trade deal, predominantly for highly skilled green-list workers, will not allow for partners or children. I…
— Joshua Riley 🇳🇿 (@VoteSovereign) May 16, 2026
Kinderharten going banana republic going mafia going asylum.
The Merry-go-round is called Beehive.
Good luck with the corrupt Media Council who protects its own. The MSM says and does anything it likes if they are paid to air extremist views from government and non government groups. That’s why they fit their nick name, Presstitutes.
The MSM are trash but don’t expect any relief from the so called media watch dog groups, they are all in it together. Suffice to say, they wont be able to hide what they are doing for long, the truth has a habit of find a voice. Next election lets all say “NO” to Labour, National and ACT.
Yes. Not hard to miss. Open your eyes NZ too many black foreigners. Keep NZ white (and moari ofc).
White countries aren’t allowed under any circumstances anymore Michelle. We have to be “diverse”.
Not applicable to Africa, Asia or the orient of course. Only majority (for now) white western nations.
There’s no agenda though, that’s just a conspiracy theory 😉
It is hard to sift through the intricacies and closed loops of any legislation. Some of the reporting in the publicly funded publications is, to put it mildly, slightly inaccurate. It is good to see there are some who are up to the challenge of revealing the truth.