Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19112] 
5.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Has his department had any reason to question aspects of Jim Peron’s original residency application under the employees of relocating businesses category; if so what are they? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 Yes Mr Peron’s application under the employees of relocating businesses category was declined because the relocating business did not meet New Zealand business definitions. Mr Peron appealed that decision which was overturned by the Residence Appeal Authority. However Mr Peron withdrew that application and then applied under the long-term business visa category. This application was approved on 20 December 2002. This is a temporary work permit for 3 years and he is not a permanent resident. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: May I ask the Minister whether he is concerned that Jim Peron who claimed on  
Morning Report 
 this morning: “I have never been arrested for anything and never even been investigated for anything” had his shop raided in San Francisco because he employed a sex offender—and a serious one at that—and stocked publications about men having sex with boys as young as 8 years of age? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I am not aware of all the details. What I can say to the member though is that in order to get some form of visa like the long-term business visa Mr Peron would have had to have a police clearance from the countries he had been in. I am advised that those police clearances were given. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is the Minister aware that the same employee was later jailed for 16 years for child molestation that he was someone who had been employed for a long time by Jim Peron and that the police raided Jim Peron’s Free Forum Bookstore in San Francisco in 1987 where copies of the newsletter of the North American Man/Boy Love Association known as “NAMBLA” were found and why did his police clearance not reveal any of those facts? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The police clearances came from the United States and we rely on the police for that information. I am aware that there was a raid on that book shop and I have been advised that some of the publications that member has raised were stocked at the bookstore. What the Immigration Service relies on is whether in fact the applicant has been arrested or has committed a crime and whether that appears on police files. That is what we do. We check with the local police to see whether in fact everything is in order. I understand that the police clearance was given in both South Africa and the United States. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Did the police inquiry for Jim Peron’s residency application include the work of Sergeant Tom Eisenman of the San Francisco police who conducted an investigation into the North American Man/Boy Love Association including Jim Peron’s San Francisco Free Forum Bookshop and who commented: “It is an organisation that promotes child sexual abuse.”; if not what use are police checks at all? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I am not aware of the information the member has just given. We rely on the police forces of other countries to give us information when we are making determinations on applications for immigration status in New Zealand. My understanding is that those police clearances were given by the various agencies that were asked for them. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table the following articles: two from the  
San Francisco Chronicle 
 linking Jim Peron to publications from the North American Man/Boy Love Association which he does not today deny and regarding Peron’s employment of a convicted child molester in his San Francisco store who also participated in the North American Man/Boy Love Association meetings at Jim Peron’s store and an article dated 2003 by Jim Peron entitled  
The Claptrap over Child Porn  
in which he describes child porn censorship as an effective smokescreen to attack the free speech rights of all adults. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those documents. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Apart from the shocking revelation yesterday that Mr Jim Peron actually knows Rodney Hide does the Minister have any evidence that there is any truth in any of the defamatory statements that Mr Peters has been making under parliamentary privilege? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think you know as a former law lecturer what the defect in that question is. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: There is no responsibility I think for that. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Precisely; nor is the Minister qualified to give an answer. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Well I would not go as far as that. But there is no responsibility for the Minister to answer that question. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. We have had Mr Peters during question time and using the privilege of tabling documents make a series of defamatory statements to the Minister all of which the Minister has answered. I am asking now after hearing all the questions today and yesterday whether the Minister—and I am talking about the information that the Minister has—has any information as to whether any of those defamatory statements apart from the shocking revelation that Mr Peron knows Rodney Hide are true? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Apart from the defect in the honourable member’s question I just say this. This Minister could not possibly answer the question because he is not an expert in defamation law for a start which is what he is being asked to pass judgment on. But Rodney Hide’s association with Jim Peron is a long one and he wrote to the Minister asking him to speed up that fart-blossom’s application. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister has been responding to questions about what the immigration authorities know. I would note however that the word “defamatory” is not appropriate in this context. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: How about having an answer to my question? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister can respond to the question in the light of that ruling. The Minister is responsible only for answering questions about the immigration authorities and what they know. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: In light of what Madam Speaker has said my interest has been as the Minister of Immigration looking into those matters. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. If the Minister knows that there is any truth in the allegations that have been made I invite him to tell the House and if he does not he should be man enough to tell us that there is no truth in them. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: As Minister of Immigration my major concern is looking at whether in fact the declarations that were made were accurate. One of the accusations I think that had been made was that somehow that person may have had a criminal record. As far as that is concerned the advice I have from the officials is that the police have been contacted in various countries and no records were forthcoming. As a result that person received a police clearance.