Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): Greg O'Connor says that members of this side are using the people in the gallery.Greg O'Connor: And another one stands up to do the same thing.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! Let's let Chris Bishop give his speech please.CHRIS BISHOP: He says we're using the people in this gallery who have come to Parliament twice now—Greg O'Connor: Yes you are.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Can I remind the member not to bring me into the debate.CHRIS BISHOP: People have turned up to this Parliament twice now in good faith to ask for the Government to have a heart and do the right thing and sort out their immigration status—an immigration status that through no fault of their own because of the impact of COVID-19 has been negatively affected. I want to pay tribute to those in the gallery. We in the Opposition led by Erica Stanford our immigration spokesperson—Greg O'Connor: Are leveraging this to the maximum degree.CHRIS BISHOP: You might just want to reflect on your behaviour Greg. There are people watching in the gallery and on TV and I don't think they'll be very impressed by it. We are doing the right thing and representing those who have come to Parliament and asked the Government for action.Greg O'Connor: Playing politics.CHRIS BISHOP: Well the thing about immigration—and this was going to be my next point—the thing about Parliament is it's political. It's an amazing thing. We're all elected here. We're sent here to Parliament to do a job. Let's be very clear: immigration is political. It's political because Government policy is decided by politicians. It's Government policy to not act on split migrant families. That makes it political. Managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) resourcing is political because it's the Government that decides how many beds are available in MIQ and how they'll be allocated. Just yesterday we had the Minister announcing that we're going to have Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme workers coming in construction workers coming in. We welcome that on this side of the House but the failure to act on the split migrants is political. Immigration funding is political because it's the Government that decides how much money goes to the immigration department and that decides how many immigration staff there are and that decides how quickly they process residence applications. That's why we have as Miss Stanford pointed out the longest backlog in New Zealand history. That's political. That's what Parliament is for. That's why we're having this debate. It's to interrogate those issues. That's the whole point of a democracy. So that is of course why immigration policy and actions are political and that's of course why we are interested in it. Marja Lubeck says Let's not politicise this." Immigration policy is political. Miss Stanford is doing the right thing.There are very few things that you come across in Parliament that I think are indefensible but the situation with the split migrant families that has been brought to the House's attention through these petitions and through the protests on the forecourt today and in the past is indefensible. Cameron Conradie moved here in good faith as a teacher at Hutt Valley High School in the Hutt teaching maths. He moved here in good faith; he was paid to come here. The Government incentivised him to move to New Zealand and he did so in good faith. He came here in January 2020 and his family were to follow. The story has been told on a few occasions. They packed up their belongings they liquidated their assets and then COVID happened. And no one's saying that that wasn't unfortunate and that there didn't have to be a response. But in May 2021 he is saying—and we agree and a lot of people agree with us—"Let's reunite my family." And he looks at the MIQ numbers—1800 beds available last week on average each night—and says "I have moved to New Zealand I want my family to come. Why can they not come?" And there are no excuses from the Government—there are no excuses and the Government has not been able to point to any. And it is completely unreasonable. Our position and the position of Mr Conradie and the split migrants who are here in the gallery and on the forecourt is: either allow us to come to New Zealand and reunite our families or at the very least let's have a road map. And from the Minister today in his speech and at the forecourt we didn't even get that. It is political but it's also indefensible. That's why we're having the debate and that's why the gallery is full."