Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 15 October 2003. Volume:612;Page:9179. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
12.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Customs 
: Does he stand by comments he made yesterday in a speech to Customs personnel in Mangere Auckland; if so why? 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 Yes because Customs staff are achieving excellent results in detecting and seizing illegal imports of drugs and precursor chemicals. Their efforts deserve every congratulatory comment I made in my speech yesterday and I believe of every member in this House. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: What sort of “soft on drugs” Government is this when this Minister lists his concern about the effect P is having on tourism ahead of the insidious effect this drug is having on child abuse domestic violence and murder rates in this country; and how can we take him seriously when he thinks tourism is more important than the effect P is having on New Zealand families? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The member can take it out of context any which way he likes. This Government has a methamphetamine action plan. This Government has increased the category of methamphetamine from a class C drug to a class A drug. This Government has taken action. That is completely different from the previous Government which despite requests by the police for the Customs Service to take action did nothing. 
Luamanuvao Winnie Laban 
: Does the Customs Service have sufficient staff to deal with the current drug problem? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The Labour-Progressive Government is increasing the number of Customs staff at a cost in the last Budget of $1.9 million. I had the pleasure yesterday of inducting 11 new Customs drug staff and there are five more to come which brings the number of Customs drug investigators back to about where it was before it was cut by the previous National Government. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister was asked by his own colleague—and no doubt he prepared the question—whether Customs had sufficient staff. He made no attempt to answer it. He just gave us a diatribe on what there is now as opposed to what there was in the past. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: This is one occasion on which I agree with the member. He was asked whether there were sufficient staff and that should be relatively easy to answer. 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: We have increased the staff to the maximum level we are capable of at this stage. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member was asked whether there were sufficient staff. 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I said that we have increased staff to the maximum we are capable of absorbing at this stage. Whether that is sufficient is a moot point but we simply cannot increase the staff any faster. 
Keith Locke 
: Does Customs’ reliance on analysis from overseas agencies as the Minister mentioned in his speech yesterday lead to serious mistakes when Customs strays into the political arena—as demonstrated in the Refugee Status Appeals Authority’s determination in the Ahmed Zaoui case where the authority criticised the Customs officer who interviewed Ahmed Zaoui at the airport for wrongly claiming that Mr Zaoui was a member of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group or GIA? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is getting far too wide of the original question. 
Keith Locke 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member was asked whether he stood by the comments he made in his speech yesterday. 
Keith Locke 
: Yes but the original question related to the Minister’s speech yesterday which was in general terms. This relates to something that was in the Minister’s speech. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: But this is a customs matter not an immigration matter. 
Keith Locke 
: Well this is to do with customs. I am talking about what the Minister of— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is now irritating me slightly. I have ruled the question out. 
Hon Matt Robson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Locke asked whether it was in the Refugee Status Appeals Authority finding on Ahmed Zaoui that the Customs Service was heavily criticised for its treatment of Mr Ahmed Zaoui and the breaching of his rights. In my opinion Mr Speaker—and I am asking you to reflect on it—the Minister of Customs and the Customs Service were implicated in the issue that Mr Locke has raised. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I do not want to be ungenerous to the member. I will allow the Minister to comment on the issue. 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I do not accept that member’s assertion that the Customs Service acts politically; it does not and I do not accept the findings that the Customs Service was acting on an immigration basis. At the time the Customs Service asked its questions under the Customs and Excise Act which it is perfectly entitled to do. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not want to interrupt the flow of questions but there seems to be something wrong with the amplification system. When various people speak their voices are coming through distorted. Perhaps you can have someone look at that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am having a look at that matter. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: In light of the Minister’s answers relating to methamphetamines what is his response to comments in this month’s  
Police Association News 
 that describe his Government’s commitment to controlling the $400 million-a-year gang-controlled methamphetamine crime industry as totally inadequate “petty cash” and “chicken feed”? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I cannot agree with that at all. I say to the member and to this House that this year the Customs Service put in a budget bid of $1.9 million. That was the maximum it thought it could handle. The Government gave it exactly what it asked for and we are implementing the plan. We have seen a 300 percent increase in seizures of methamphetamine at the border. We have seen the seizure of 7 kilograms of cocaine at the border and other seizures will be announced shortly. The Customs Service is doing an excellent job. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Mr Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No there will be no further supplementary questions from the National Party today. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. On our calculations Mr Ryall is entitled to another question. He has had his primary question plus one supplementary question. There should be another supplementary question available to Mr Ryall. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The National Party has 16 allocated for today. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: That is correct and we have taken only 15. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The information I have from my assistant—but I take responsibility for that—is 15. However I will be reasonable. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: How does he reconcile previous responses in this House that the Government is doing everything it can to deal with the methamphetamine epidemic in New Zealand with his pledge yesterday to try to accelerate the progress of the Government’s methamphetamine plan when Jim Anderton the head of the ministerial committee on drugs told the public on television recently that this is not the kind of crisis that people are making it out to be? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: As the Customs Service and other agencies observe the actions and activities of those who seek to import illicit drugs into this country we notice a change in their behaviour. We therefore have to adapt our tactics strategy and law to help deal with the increase in the supply of drugs into this country. I am very proud of the action we have taken thus far. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That answer was too long.