Philippine Nurses Speak Out! Campaign for Fair Assessment of Filipino Nurses in New Zealand URGENT APPEAL FOR FAIR ASSESSMENT OF FILIPINO NURSES We are nurses from the Philippines who came to New Zealand in search of better employment opportunities so that we can use our professional training to meet the needs of New Zealand at the same time to build a better future for our families in the Philippines. We work as health care assistants with the hope that, after gaining years of relevant work experience and with our continuing contribution to the socio-economic health of this country, the Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ) will approve our registration to enable us to practice our profession as nurses. Much to our dismay, many of us who have taken up nursing as a second course have been rejected. We note that some second coursers who applied before 2008 were approved by the NCNZ. Since 2008, second coursers who were declined are frustrated that their competence was questioned when they hold essentially the same qualifications as those who were approved in the first quarter of 2008, 2007 and previous years. Despite our track record in serving this country’s healthcare institutions adeptly, many of us were declined approval. The NCNZ doubted our competence and the quality of our educational background, reportedly because the Philippines is producing too many nursing graduates and has too many nursing schools. In the context of the current economic crisis and the need to protect local nurses, we understand the NCNZ’s recent moves to restrict the entry of hundreds of Filipino nurses applying for work in New Zealand. However, we appeal for consideration especially for the distressed and stranded Filipino second coursers in New Zealand. We request the NCNZ to give consideration to Filipino nurses who have already gained relevant work experience in New Zealand and applied for registration before recent changes in the application process were put in place. We further urge the NCNZ to: 1. Consider the registration of second coursers currently in New Zealand who graduated from Philippine institutions that have a good track record in producing qualified nurses. 2. Offer one-year training for second coursers currently in New Zealand as student nurses and consider the registration of those who are shown by this process to be competent to practise. Petitioners (for Filipino Second Courser Nurses only):