Woodhouse Michael: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Woodhouse Michael: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 12 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7729. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 Can I begin by thanking members of the House and those others who acknowledged and congratulated me on my promotion a couple of weeks ago. It has certainly been a very hectic and busy time and I am looking forward to the challenges those portfolios hold. I also want to acknowledge my former junior whip now the chief whip for the Government Louise Upston and her new team of Tim Macindoe and No. 3 “The Whippet” Jami-Lee Ross. I am sure they will be a tremendous team and continue to keep the caucus energised. 
If there was any theme that underpinned Christmas 2012 for me it was the theme of the Christmas hamper. Of course many hampers were given out but I think the interesting thing for me was the one that was not. There was an article in the  
Otago Daily Times 
 that rather warmed me actually through the very challenging period of the closure of the Hillside railway workshops—at least that part that was not taken up by Bradken—and the work that local MP Clare Curran did to provide hampers for what was believed to be all the workers at Hillside. Indeed she was quoted in the  
Otago Daily Times 
 saying that “she called for donations of hamper items for Hillside staff and said yesterday ‘hundreds’ of products had come in from Dunedin businesses and individuals since the appeal was launched”—businesses that I think thought would be donating to all KiwiRail workers who were affected by this closure. But apparently not because one member was not given a hamper and that member had something that the others did not. He was not a member of the trade union. In fact he was quoted in the  
Otago Daily Times  
as saying: “I asked if there was a hamper for me and was told no”— 
Clare Curran 
: Make sure you get the facts right Michael. 
Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: —these are the facts as reported by the  
Otago Daily Times 
—“because I was a National supporter and a scabber. The union people simply don’t want me to have a hamper because I voted National and always have.” So those Dunedin businesses were not donating to Hillside workers; they were donating to union workers. Clare Curran cries tears not for Kiwi workers but for her union mates because when she had an opportunity to say that this was a mistake and that clearly there was a misunderstanding about who would get the hampers she did not. 
Clare Curran 
: I seek leave to make a personal explanation. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No. Order! The time to do that is between when members have the call. It is not a mechanism to interrupt a speaker. I will not put the leave but that is not saying that the member cannot do it. I am informing the member when she can do it. 
Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: Thank you Mr Speaker. I fear I have touched a nerve. However there was an opportunity to say that this was a misunderstanding. There was an opportunity to correct this but rather Miss Curran was quoted in the  
Otago Daily Times 
 saying that “She ‘understood’ some workers would not get hampers”—“some” notice not “one”—“but said she did not ask why and did not know whether hampers were given only to union members. She said she would not be taking any action.” Well I know what the public of Dunedin thought about that concerned though they were at the closure of the Hillside railway workshops. There was disgust on social media at the perceptions of that action. 
But roll on the new year and we have last week’s decision by the Auditor-General to not unlike what Ms Curran had requested conduct a further inquiry into the purchase of flat-deck wagons by KiwiRail. I note the Office of the Auditor-General basically said “We have concluded that the decision to select CNR as a supplier was made for normal business and commercial reasons after a competitive market process.” This happens to be exactly what KiwiRail was required to do under section 4 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act an Act passed by a Labour Government. It could have amended it but it did not. Section 4 says that there was a requirement to adopt normal commercial practice. But the Office of the Auditor-General goes on to say “We did not identify any unfairness in the way the proposal from Hillside workshops was treated.” and it concluded—significantly I should say for me—by saying “we have seen no evidence to suggest improper influence over these decisions.” So no influence and KiwiRail did exactly what it was required to do: follow normal commercial practice invite Hillside to submit a bid which it came a distant third on and make a commercial decision that an Act passed by a Labour Government required it to do. 
The only person prepared to stand up and say that they would change that law was Clare Curran. Phil Goff when he was Leader of the Opposition came down and said he would not change the law. He said “We’d look into it. We’d give Kiwis a go.”—and absolutely that is required in any event. David Shearer stopped short of saying that he would change the law but Clare Curran said: “Nope. Under a Labour Government we’d reopen Hillside. We’d give them the subsidies that they would need. We would take $160 million by conservative estimates out of the pockets of hard-working taxpayers to fund that project because unfortunately Hillside was not big enough or technological enough to compete on the world market.” So there it is—$160 million more in subsidies and heaven knows what else would come our way. 
It is tough out there in manufacturing. It is not a crisis but it is tough. This Government does not have the luxury however of only talking about the negatives. There is job growth. I happened to visit Bradken yesterday morning. Bradken purchased the foundry at the Hillside railway workshops and in fact its admin officers were moving into Hillside Road just this morning so I was very grateful to them that they accommodated me. And they are upbeat. There is new work there are new jobs being created there are plenty of opportunities for the big pots that it has there to do foundry work under one tonne and it could become Australasia’s leader in that market. So there is cause for optimism. 
I just want to touch on some of those new responsibilities that I have as firstly Minister of Immigration which perhaps on the face of it would seem like a rather dry portfolio. But I am very excited by it because it is an absolutely vital cog in the wheel of the Government’s Business Growth Agenda. New Zealand is in a contest—a global contest—for talent for tertiary students for tourists and for migrants who are prepared to invest in this country. I have been really really encouraged by the manner in which Immigration New Zealand has improved over the last 4 years and there are strategies under way that will supercharge that organisation and ensure that the skilled migrants that we need in order to take that Business Growth Agenda forward will be here. 
I want to touch on one small matter that has been raised over the last few days in respect of the immigration portfolio and that is the issue of asylum seekers and the passage of the Immigration Amendment Bill which is due for its second reading soon. I have been asked—and it has been claimed even in this House during oral question time that there is no risk and that it would be completely impossible for a boat to get from Indonesia for example to New Zealand. Well I want to remind the House that most of our ancestors arrived here in sail ships and waka. 
Andrew Little 
: How many refugees have been found in waka? 
Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: And anybody who thinks that a steel-hulled motorised vessel with a number of people—dozens or hundreds—could not make New Zealand shores is frankly being naive. And I challenge Andrew Little to be saying the same thing if and when that event occurs because the risk is real the possibility is real and the response is necessary. 
Andrew Little 
: No it’s not. 
Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: Well there we go. We have it on record. Mr Little says “No it’s not real.” Thank you. I shall mark the date and time because the risk is real and if Labour does not believe so well we will just see. 
I want to just finish on the issue of veterans’ affairs. This is a very busy year for veterans’ affairs. Planning for the 100th anniversary commemorations of Gallipoli begun under the previous veterans’ affairs Minister the Hon Nathan Guy is well under way. There will be an announcement very soon if not already on the allocation of places for New Zealanders and Australians to that event. There are also a number of other commemorations taking place this year that are going to be very important: the 70th anniversary of the war in the North Pacific the 60th anniversary of the signing of the ceasefire in Korea and of course we have the very important work that veterans are looking for in the rewrite of the War Pensions Act 1954. So I can tell you it is going to be an extremely busy year. I look forward to all of those things taking place as part of the important work this Government will be doing.