Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:635;Page:6701] 
7.  
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Does he stand by his statement to the House yesterday that “I can confirm that Mr Tavita the group manager of service international attempted to communicate with the previous Associate Minister’s office.”; if so what did the group manager of service international attempt to communicate to Mr O’Connor’s office? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 Yes because that is the information I received. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How credible is it that after the previous Minister of Immigration the Hon Paul Swain agreed that the group manager for service international Mr Tavita should pass on to previous Associate Minister Damien O’Connor the concerns held at the highest levels of the New Zealand Immigration Service about the number of submissions by Taito Phillip Field that Mr O’Connor was approving Mr O’Connor’s experienced private secretary for immigration Nicola Scotland would simply not pass on those concerns to Mr O’Connor? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I am not aware that the previous Minister had that conversation with the group manager of service international. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How credible is it that after an off-the-record and unverified phone call from compliance officer Murray Gardiner Ms Scotland would immediately rush into Mr O’Connor’s office to tell him of Mr Field’s involvement with Thai nationals in Samoa but would not pass on to Mr O’Connor information contained in a logged phone call from the group manager of service international Mr Tavita on 9 June 2005—information that Nicola Scotland knew was highly relevant to a decision she knew was in front of the previous Associate Minister Damien O’Connor at that time? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: With respect to the member may I simply restate that there is nothing new in his question. These matters were fully investigated in the Ingram inquiry and the Ingram inquiry concluded as to what was the most likely chain of events. If I may I will add that naming individual public servants who are unable to defend themselves hardly does a member of Parliament credit. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How credible is it to claim that Mr O’Connor’s private secretary would not pass on to him two separate major concerns from one of the highest levels of the New Zealand Immigration Service the group manager of service international the first about Mr O’Connor’s decision-making in response to submissions from Taito Phillip Field when the previous Minister of Immigration had agreed such concerns should be raised and the second about Thai tiler Sunan Siriwan working on Mr Field’s house in Samoa while Damien O’Connor was actively considering Mr Field’s submission on Mr Sunan Siriwan’s behalf; why should that claim—failure to pass on those two separate lots of information—not be seen to be anything other than an organised cover-up? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I respectfully reject the presumption of the question. According to the advice I have received there was no question as to the previous Associate Minister’s decision-making. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Do the Minister and his department support the dual process that is happening in respect of this matter—namely the public inquiry being conducted by the police and the private inquiry being conducted in this House every day by Lockwood Smith? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I thank the member for his question but I think that the questions from the member opposite hardly constitute an inquiry. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Did deputy secretary Mary Anne Thompson and the group manager of service international Mr Kerupi Tavita raise concerns about the number and nature of immigration submissions by Taito Phillip Field that Damien O’Connor was approving because their concerns mirrored those of whistleblower Keith Williams who has reported that Taito Phillip Field boasted: “The Minister and I have got an arrangement between us. I do things; he does things. I’ve got an arrangement with him.”? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I note that the Ingram inquiry found Mr Williams to be entirely without credibility. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How does it help to disprove allegations of an arrangement between Taito Phillip Field and the previous Associate Minister of Immigration Damien O’Connor when Mr O’Connor approved 60 percent of the representations made to him by Taito Phillip Field while his successor the Hon Clayton Cosgrove has approved just 16 percent of the representations made to him by Mr Field? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I am no more at liberty to second-guess the legitimate decisions of former Ministers properly made in accordance with the law and the information put before them than I am to assess that member’s work for his old boss the Hon Tuariki Delamere.