Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:635;Page:6785] 
4.  
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: What did the group manager of service international attempt to communicate to the previous Associate Minister’s office when he confirmed to the House yesterday that “Mr Tavita the group manager of service international attempted to communicate with the previous Associate Minister’s office.”? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I am advised that he recalls attempting to raise concerns of a general nature unrelated to any particular case. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Why did the Minister tell the House yesterday: “There was no question as to the previous Associate Minister’s decision-making.” when the Department of Labour’s workforce deputy secretary Ms Mary Anne Thompson stated publicly on Thursday last week that the officials’ concerns were over the number of failed asylum-seekers who were getting those decisions reversed by Mr O’Connor following representations from Mr Field? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: The member would do well to quote officials accurately. The concerns related to advocacy not decision making. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: What did the previous Minister of Immigration the Hon Paul Swain do himself with the information he possessed after being briefed by Mary Anne Thompson about the number of applications by failed asylum-seekers Damien O’Connor was approving following representations from Taito Phillip Field? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: As we have already repeatedly explained to the member his action was to ask the deputy secretary to pass on that information to the previous Associate Minister. She attempted to do so via the group manager service international. It is quite clear however that the message did not get through. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: As this Minister confirmed to the House on 20 July this year that the Minister of Immigration is accountable for decisions made when ministerial discretion is being exercised why did the previous Minister Paul Swain fail to speak to his previous Associate Minister Damien O’Connor about the concerns raised with him by Ms Mary Anne Thompson—concerns that senior officials had about the number of cases involving failed refugee claimants who were being approved by Damien O’Connor following representations from Taito Phillip Field? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I am afraid that there is no State secret waiting to be unearthed here. Notification processes were oral and did not reach their destination. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Is it correct that the Minister told this House on 24 August this year that “the Minister’s private secretary was informed but did not pass that information on to the Minister”—that information being the fact that Mr Siriwan was working on Taito Phillip Field’s house in Samoa—and that he told the House on Tuesday this week that “the Associate Minister’s private secretary has no recollection of that attempt to communicate” that attempt being the advice from senior officials of serious concerns about Mr O’Connor’s decisions in response to representations by Taito Phillip Field; if so why does the Minister keep blaming Damien O’Connor’s former immigration secretary when everyone knows she would have passed that information on to Mr O’Connor? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: It would appear in the first instance that the member has confused two different events and in the second instance has forgotten that it was he not I who identified an individual official in yesterday’s questions. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: When the Minister said in this House yesterday that “naming individual public servants who are unable to defend themselves hardly does a member of Parliament credit” what kind of credit does it do him the previous Minister of Immigration Paul Swain and previous Associate Minister Damien O’Connor to keep claiming that the respected and highly competent immigration secretary to Damien O’Connor Nicola Scotland failed to pass on to the Minister on two separate occasions two crucial pieces of advice from the group manager service international—one of the most senior officials of the New Zealand Immigration Service—when members of this House who have worked with Miss Scotland know she would have passed that information on? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: In the first place I can only recount the facts as I am advised that they are. In the second place the member would be better advised to be attuned to the reshuffling of the deckchairs on his own  
Titanic 
.