Turei Metiria: Urgent Debates — Report by Secretary of Labour—Immigration Service 
Turei Metiria: Urgent Debates — Report by Secretary of Labour—Immigration Service 
[Volume:611;Page:8339] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Department of Labour investigation found that there was no evidence of conspiracy to lie or to deceive but from the Greens’ point of view the bigger issue in this case has been the entire management of Ahmed Zaoui’s case and his refugee status. It demonstrates that the whole process has been a deceptive and prejudicial process. 
This report is simply another piece of the puzzle that shows that the Zaoui case is being processed in a discriminatory way. It is a further indictment on the Immigration Service and the Minister’s failure to manage the situation effectively. The report’s identification of official information cover-up is the tip of the iceberg in this case. It is a deliberate attempt to deny Ahmed Zaoui the respectful humane treatment that any migrant or refugee is entitled to in this country. A further demonstration that immigration is a mess and that the whole process is failing is shown in the recent immigration legislation the failure of the Immigration Service to manage its caseload which has meant a lapsing of 20000 applications legislation that deprives individuals and new migrants of their human rights and the rights to appeal in the immigration process and legislation recently discussed in this House for the indefinite detention of immigrants who are subject to removal order. In our view this is bringing the Labour Party perilously close to a New Zealand First position on immigration. 
In our view the management of Zaoui’s case has been a continual and total failure. First the initial step was the staff member who when interviewing Mr Zaoui completely misunderstood his accent through a failure of training and held that he was a member of an organisation when his answer when asked was “No”; despite the fact that he denied that he was a member of that organisation he was listed as being so. So from the beginning Mr Zaoui has been treated in a prejudicial way. 
He is still in prison awaiting the final process on his refugee status with the security risk assessment. He has been in jail for nearly a year waiting for this process to be completed—a year of waiting for the Immigration Service to do its job and to do its job properly. This report is simply another indication that that service is failing not even necessarily because the processes are not in place but because there has been a prejudicial and discriminatory attitude to Mr Zaoui’s case in particular. 
The Refugee Status Appeal Authority which considered Mr Zaoui’s application for refugee status has found in fact that Mr Zaoui is safe his case his safe he is a legitimate refugee and he is entitled to be treated so in this country. The Refugee Status Appeal Authority was so appalled with the way Mr Zaoui had been treated by the Immigration Service that it went so far as to seriously criticise the information provided by the Security Intelligence Service the essential organisation that is supposed to provide information to this country to enable it to protect its borders. 
That authority found that the Security Intelligence Service information was not sound and that it was discredited and that the Security Intelligence Service had sourced its information from the dictatorial Algerian regime from whence Mr Zaoui was seeking his refugee status—the same regime that wants to imprison and torture Mr Zaoui if he returns to that country. Of course they will provide prejudicial information about him because they do not like him but the Security Intelligence Service which is responsible for finding secure and good-quality information completely failed to do so. The Refugee Status Appeal Authority has entirely discredited the Security Intelligence Service and its information. 
This report is just another indication of that complete and utter failure to deal with Mr Zaoui in any kind of respectful or humane way. The Green Party calls on the Minister of Immigration to reconsider in the light of this information and the trail of information that shows that this case has been managed badly from the start the security risk assessment process and to give credence to and respect the decision of the Refugee Status Appeal Authority that Mr Zaoui is a legitimate refugee and to ensure that there is a clear and transparent process for managing his case and cases like this to make sure that people who come to this country seeking refugee status are not treated prejudicially but given the respect and humane treatment that is their due.