Speaking to media after a closed meeting with employers in the resort yesterday, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said temporary immigration changes for the resort announced last month were a short-term fix to ''relieve immediate pressures over the peak visitor season''.
The changes, which expire on June 30, mean employers are exempt from the requirement to provide evidence of an attempt to recruit a New Zealander first.
Mr Woodhouse said employers had asked for the exemption to be extended beyond June.
However, the Government wanted employers to demonstrate how they were trying to recruit New Zealanders, and what the ''pinch points'' were.
''The obligation still remains on the employers and the community to work as hard as it can to solve its labour supply problems domestically, and then set immigration policy at the end of the process, not at the start of it.''
Employers at the meeting had indicated they were ''up for that challenge'' and agreed to work together to prepare their case.
Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett said Queenstown employers needed to present a clear case to the rest of the country on why it should have special rules.
She had asked them to provide ''clear evidence that goes beyond an ad in the paper'' of their efforts to recruit New Zealanders.
At the same time, the Government would ''do some homework'' on the impacts of housing and tertiary education and training on the Queenstown labour market.
