NEW ZEALAND – The New Zealand prime minister, John Key, has said the country is forced to rely on overseas workers to fill jobs because some Kiwis lack a strong work ethic and may have problems with drugs.

The comments came on the back of record high immigration figures, showing in the year to July 69,000 people moved to New Zealand.

In his weekly appearance on Radio New Zealand, Key was asked to explain high immigration figures, with 200,000 Kiwis currently unemployed.

Key responded that schemes to get Kiwi beneficiaries into jobs had routinely failed because many lacked basic work skills.

“Go and ask the employers, and they will say some of these people won’t pass a drug test, some of these people won’t turn up for work, some of these people will claim they have health issues later on,” Key said.

“So it’s not to say there aren’t great people who transition from Work and Income to work, they do, but it’s equally true that they’re also living in the wrong place, or they just can’t muster what is required to actually work. ”

Every year New Zealand brings in more than 9000 seasonal workers from the Pacific islands to work on short-term contracts in the horticulture and wine industry.

Both industries also say they are heavily reliant on overseas visitors with work permits – particularly backpackers.

Leon Stallard, a director for Horticulture New Zealand and the owner of an apple orchard in Hawke’s Bay, said he had tried “for years” to get unemployed New Zealanders to pick his apples but had been let down time and again.

“I agree 100 per cent with Key’s comments, he’s bang-on,” said Stallard.

“We brought in beneficiaries from Auckland a few years ago for jobs. They lasted three days, after smashing up thousands of dollars of equipment and getting drunk.

“You don’t get a second chance when harvesting fruit – it needs to be picked in its prime. So if workers don’t show up, that hugely affects the business.

“It is really frustrating, if we had Kiwis wanting these jobs I’d employ them tomorrow. But we have serious issues around reliability that are just too damaging for us to keep taking those chances. ”

Steve Green, chair of New Zealand wine growers, said seasonal jobs were often challenging for unemployed New Zealanders to take up because of distance, time away from social support networks and the rigours of the outdoor work.

Green said the Pacific islanders employed under the government’s RSE scheme had “a fantastic work ethic” and become part of the communities where they were employed.

“They are very good employees. They bring a sense of community from their home villages and get involved in church and social groups. ”

In an opinion piece for Radio New Zealand, the former Greens MP Sue Bradford called the PM’s attack on New Zealand workers “shameful”.

“There has probably never been a time since the 1930s depression when there was a sufficiently large, able-bodied workforce waiting in the provincial areas for the crops to ripen.

“John Key’s comments – and his government’s laissez-faire immigration policies – set worker against worker while enhancing the ability of business to make larger and larger profits.

“The currently high level of unskilled migration panders to employers who want to keep wages low and precarious workers hungry for extra hours. ”

Labour Leader Andrew Little added: “I don’t buy the argument that there are young people who can’t work because they are drugged and lazy.

“Our social conscience dictates that we make it a priority to get young people into work. For those who have a few rough edges on them, we need to go the extra mile and make the extra effort to enable them to get into work.

“There are a whole heap of young people who some employers and clearly the government – Bill English and John Key now – write off as either ‘pretty damn hopeless’ or drugged and lazy, as an excuse for them not to make the extra effort to get them into work. ”

- The Guardian