10. Immigration—Exploitation of International StudentsIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of ImmigrationImmigration—Exploitation of International Students10. IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of Immigration: Is it acceptable that after nine years of a National-led Government there are business owners charging thousands of dollars for jobs that lead to residence?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration): No illegal activity by any party in relation to immigration is acceptable at any time. That is why this Government has invested heavily in both Immigration New Zealand and the labour inspectorate to stamp out this kind of behaviour. Unfortunately where there are rules a small number of people will inevitably try to bend them. Our improvements mean there are far fewer problems now than there have been in the past.Iain Lees-Galloway: Why after 9 years of National Government does Immigration New Zealand say that some private training establishments (PTEs) enter agreements with dodgy employers who recruit students to work at their business in order to sell these students jobs when they are ready to apply for work and residence visas?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: As I said when there are more than 100000 international students in our second-largest service export earner there will always be a small number of people who try to bend the rules. That is entirely unacceptable which is why this Government has put in place a number of measures to prevent and prosecute that behaviour.Iain Lees-Galloway: Why after 9 years of a National-led Government is it possible for a PTE to bus its international students to kiwifruit orchards to work 5 days a week for $5 an hour?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: If the member has evidence of that kind of illegal behaviour I would expect him to tell the appropriate authorities. What I do know is that Immigration New Zealand and the labour inspectorate are diligent in deploying the resources the Government has given them in detecting that type of behaviour.Iain Lees-Galloway: Given that answer why was that example in an Immigration New Zealand report that was handed to him and why does that same report say that the issues occurring at that unnamed PTE are one facet of a larger issue regarding immigration- and labour-related offending at franchises and small businesses?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: It was probably in a report because Immigration New Zealand was doing exactly what I would expect it to do and that is detect prevent and prosecute that behaviour. There is nothing unusual in that. It would be nice to think that of the 800000 visas that are issued by Immigration New Zealand every year everybody complied in all respects. That is not the reality. But we are on top of it.Iain Lees-Galloway: Is he concerned that by opposing Labour's policy of tightening up on student visas to weed out those PTEs that exist solely to exploit their students and create a back door to residency he gives the impression that National sees international students as cash cows and has no interest in their welfare or the impact that their exploitation has on working conditions for all New Zealanders?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: This Government is not interested in any lazy policies that would arbitrarily cut immigration because of populist reasons and at the same time tar every private tertiary education provider with the same brush. There are a great number of them in this country that are doing a very fine job of delivering international education to those students.