Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:626;Page:20873] 
2.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: With respect to the three men named in question No. 1 in the House yesterday what investigations if any has he conducted into their applications to enter New Zealand and does he have any concerns arising from those investigations? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 The department is looking into allegations made in Parliament yesterday by the member. However one of the concerns I have is to ensure that the information provided is both accurate and sufficient. For example the department will need a little more to go on than “a man named Jazwan”. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: That being the case what information does the Minister lack with regard to the Ali family on 16 fraudulent applications into this country all of which were given to his Prime Minister in April of this year and which he said had been handed on to the Serious Fraud Office yet as of today no one from any official office has seen them; is that the kind of reaction one gets when the information is provided with specific detail—relationships and all? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I said that they had been handed to the fraud unit in the department. I am advised that that matter has been followed up and I am also advised that contact has been made. I will say that the problem with getting accurate information—for example correct spelling and other matters—leads to the case whereby a man who thinks that he has been attacked has felt the need to come forward and reject the allegations that were made in the newspaper yesterday. The critical point is that virtually everybody apart from New Zealand First knows what this is about. It is trying to get a few cheap points in election year and casting a shadow across our immigration communities. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: In the light of that explanation can he explain the reluctance of the  
New Zealand Herald 
 
and others to ask the Ali family why they will not take a DNA test which will conclusively prove that they are lying; and why have we had 7 days of deafening silence from those people who are happy to print the Prime Minister’s photograph with this family of crooks but without any investigation taking place? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: It is the same old formula from the New Zealand First Party: attack immigrants and attack the media. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. We are not having that indolent Minister getting up and giving that as an answer. I asked him a specific question with regard to that family and the fact that he is reporting the media’s views of it yet he gets up and makes a contemptuous answer both with regard to his duties and to his obligations to the House. Can we please now have an answer. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: The last part of the question required the Minister to make some comments on the acts of the  
New Zealand Herald 
. Luckily he has no responsibility for the  
New Zealand Herald. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Thank you. I need no further assistance. The Minister is not responsible for the  
New Zealand Herald. 
 Perhaps rephrasing would help the matter. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Dr Cullen gave you some assistance when he said “the last part” which presumes there was more than one part. Can I have the answer to the first part? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would the member repeat the first part. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I ask the Minister why there has been no inquiry by him of this family as he has taken the view of others that somehow a longstanding MP is lying and that they are as pure as the driven snow. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Unlike that member who seems to be the one who will be leading the hit squad through the country I leave those investigations to the Department of Labour. 
Dianne Yates 
: How has the Government demonstrated its commitment to improving border security? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: It has done so in a range of very very good ways. The Government has allocated more than $30 million over the past 2 years to strengthen border security. We have established a fraud unit which was not available at the time when that member was Treasurer. We have introduced the advance passenger profiling system. We have set up a review over 2 years of all applicants from the highest-risk countries and started the process of bringing back to New Zealand decision making in applications starting with the highest-risk countries. 
Keith Locke 
: Does the Minister agree with Iraqi community leader Dr Umara in this morning’s  
New Zealand Herald  
that Mr Peters’ allegations are smearing the 3000 to 4000 Iraqis living here and that some of them are so distressed they are talking about leaving New Zealand; and will he reassure the person he referred to earlier—Mr Amer Salman—who has denied completely Mr Peters’ scandalous claims? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I do agree with comments from a number of community leaders who are saying that the attacks now coming out are smearing the good name of a range of people in those communities. Of course as most people know the reality is that Mr Peters does not care about that because he is after a few cheap points in the poll. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I must insist you do your job here. He is not going to get away with that in this House— 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: That’s not a point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: It is a point of order—because he has gone way outside the question. He is now attacking a member of Parliament and imputing motives— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would members please be quiet while the member is making his point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
:—and he should be stopped. It is the third time he has done it. I know he is having difficulty in answering the question properly— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The member has taken offence. Would the Minister please stick to the answers and now withdraw and apologise. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I withdraw and apologise and— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: And that is all that is required at this moment. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Would the Minister advise the House when his department met with the Ali family as he answered previously to a supplementary question; and would he describe what he understands happened at that meeting? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I have simply been advised that contact has been made. Of course that is a matter for the department and I do not get myself involved by getting in a car and going around streets trying to collect up names—as apparently that member from New Zealand First does. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Minister understand the irony of the person he is seeking to defend today being quoted as saying that he has been mixed up with “the real bad people” who are in this country today; and what would the Minister’s response be if he were to know that that man has been responsible for sending massive sums of money out of this country to Iraq—how does he do that? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I think it is: “See all of the above.” but in answer to the question the reality is that that man considers he has been besmirched so needs to come forward. The irony of the matter is that when names are mentioned in Parliament that may or may not be accurate potentially innocent people get offended by it. 
Kenneth Wang 
: Why has the Minister not expelled these three men without more investigation when last month he expelled the wrong person in a panic reaction to Mr Peters? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Perhaps the member was referring to the revoking of permits. No one has been expelled yet. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Would the Minister name now which person in New Zealand First has named in this House a person the Minister regards as having been improperly named and who should have been given the defences of Parliament from the lists of those named for Lianne Dalziel and the ones I have given to him—which ones is he talking about when he says they have been improperly named? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I am referring only to someone who has felt the need to come forward after allegations were made in the paper yesterday. I am saying that investigations are under way but the point of the answer to the member’s question is that one needs a little more to go on than for example “a man named Jazwan”.