Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:613;Page:9933] 
10.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does she have confidence in the Minister of Immigration given recent publicity of events surrounding the New Zealand Immigration Service? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: She is no longer hard-working and conscientious! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member was asked a question and an answer was given. There was no other reason required. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: When did the Minister of Immigration tell her as Prime Minister that she had become aware of senior officials at the New Zealand Immigration Service operating their own “jobs for visas” scam for would-be immigrants by providing job offers at the service that would enable foreign nationals to secure fast-track permanent residency within 1 month; how many of these job offers were made available and what action did she take as Prime Minister when the Minister of Immigration told her that? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I do not recall having any specific advice on such allegations. If the member wants to put down a proper question one will look at it. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: How can the Prime Minister have confidence in a Minister who refuses to answer specific questions in Parliament on her portfolio responsibility when the whole nation can read many of the details of particular issues in today’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 and where is the accountability of that Minister to this Parliament which is surely one of the basic requirements of ministerial responsibility? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: Of course it is one of the basic requirements of responsibility but a Minister of Immigration will always be somewhat constrained in what he or she can say in individual cases. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is she telling the House that the Minister of Immigration has not told her about the New Zealand Immigration Service assisting with the recruitment of foreign nationals into jobs at the service effectively replacing and displacing New Zealand citizens and residents already here in the employ of the service and overlooking suitably qualified persons from within resident ethnic communities—is she telling the House she knows nothing about that? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I repeat that I do not recall having a specific briefing on such allegations. If the member wants to ask a proper question about it he should put it down. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Has the Prime Minister seen a document entitled  
The Sweeping Pool 
 in which the front page is written by her Minister describing the “lying in unison” press man Ian Smith as “Puff Daddy” and on the back page she will see the names of the recruitees one of whom came here from India got the job for 1 month and then resigned from the department and set up his own immigration service; what sort of sham is going on under her Minister and when will she take account of it herself as the Prime Minister? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I cannot recall any specific brief about these allegations which is all they are. If the member wants to put the question down properly he will get a full answer. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek to table the front page of the November 2002  
Sweeping Pool 
 issue which sets out some of the evidence about which I was speaking and which quotes the Minister of Immigration. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. With respect we have a Prime Minister who tells a member of Parliament on a matter on which she is apparently ignorant to put down a question and then— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: This is not a point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: But I have not finished it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. I am not warning the member again I will name him. This was a request to table a document and the request was denied. Any member can do that and it was done. The member may not raise by way of a point of order a rejection of that particular point. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: My point of order is that I do not think that on a matter to do with the department it is fitting for the Prime Minister to tell a parliamentarian who has been scandalised for years by that sort of thing under this Minister to put a question down when it is her job to put a question down to her Minister. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: In fact that is just the point I made: that is not a point of order.