Smith NickHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): That 30-second contribution from the Greens shows the level of the rot the level of incompetence and the level of arrogance that exists in the coalition Government over this Sroubek matter.Let's start by giving context. Just a year ago parties opposite were saying that New Zealand needed to cut its immigration numbers—the numbers that were given residency—by 30000 people in respect of the Labour Party and by the New Zealand First Party by 60000. They were going to be really tough on immigration. And let's be clear: the decision to grant someone residency of this country is a privilege and it is one of the most important decisions that Ministers and Governments hold. Our issue is the incompetence of the Minister of Immigration that dismissed the very real danger and the very integrity of our immigration system in granting New Zealand residency to Karel Sroubek.I have served this country for a couple of years as immigration Minister. I have dealt with hundreds of cases. I acknowledge that Ministers sometimes have difficult cases to weigh up—humanitarian considerations family considerations—but I don't think any member of this House would with even just a scant review of this file consider this anything other than a very straightforward case. I see children in the gallery. I think any child in New Zealand could have reflected very simply on this file and said This is a no-brainer. This is a no."Let's just review Mr Sroubek's file. This is a man that lied when he came into New Zealand in 2003. This is a man who in 2009 with Hell's Angels associates was arrested for kidnapping and aggravated robbery. Does he sound like the sort of nice guy that we want to give the privilege of being a New Zealander? Then in 2011 he is convicted for providing false information—so the courts have decided that this man is dishonest. And then in 2016 Mr Sroubek is convicted for importing 4.9 kilograms of ecstasy—4.9 kilograms is a very serious drug dealer. Did the Minister give for a moment consideration to the misery that that nearly five kilograms of drugs in the New Zealand market would have caused to hundreds and potentially thousands of families? The court considered it to be so serious that they sentenced him to five years and nine months of imprisonment and that information was known to the Minister.So I say again: does this sound like the sort of nice person that we would like to grant New Zealand residency? And just for the record let's note that before he left for New Zealand he had convictions in the Czech Republic for which he had been sentenced to more than four years of prison in that country. So I say I am yet to hear any explanation from the Minister or from the Government as to what planet Minister Lees-Galloway was on when he decided to grant this dishonest gang-affiliated drug dealer residency in our country. The only signal that that has sent is that this is a Government that is soft on crime that is soft on drug dealers and that is soft on maintaining the integrity of our immigration system.But it's worse than that. Let's just remind ourselves of the events that transpired. I remember picking up the Sunday Star-Times on 28 October and reading about this case. Actually I immediately got on the phone to my colleagues Mark Mitchell and Michael Woodhouse and said "This cannot be for real." And then on the Tuesday when my colleague Michael Woodhouse asked the question of the Minister the Minister said these words: "I have reviewed the file thoroughly." And do you know what I said to myself? Do you know what I said to myself? Thank goodness he's going to stand up in the House and state the bleeding obvious: "I made a mistake and I'm going to fix it." What did he say? He doubled down—he had got this absolutely right. So when he stands in the House this afternoon in contrition I'd say what's changed over the four weeks when he stood in this House and not only defended the decision but attacked my colleagues who dared question whether in fact he had exercised proper judgment? But it got worse than that. The part when I nearly choked on my Kornies was when I heard Winston Peters on the radio defending granting residency to a convicted drug dealer who's locked up. Winston Peters for 30 years has characterised his career on being "Mr Tough on Immigration". Well if "Mr Tough on Immigration" Winston Peters thinks it's OK for convicted drug dealers dishonest drug associates and gang members to be granted residency I know there will be—and I know it's a diminishing number—New Zealand First supporters around this country saying that the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand has truly lost the plot. Then we had Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The line that I enjoyed from the Prime Minister when this case blew publicly was "Of course the Minister had got it right". Here we had every member of this House dropping their jaws at the decision you had seen media all over the country saying that this decision was a doozy but we had the Prime Minister giving appalling political judgment as well as judgment for New Zealand in defending this dumb and stupid decision from the Minister of Immigration. But here are the words from the Prime Minister that I enjoyed: "No New Zealanders; no Parliament—you can't have the file. Read between the lines." Hang on a moment. This is the Prime Minister that has said this is going to be the most open transparent Government ever. So when it's the most open transparent Government ever why can't it answer and why has it not answered even to this day the basic question as to why in the good Lord's name did Minister Iain Lees-Galloway ever sign residence for Mr Karel Sroubek?Then we've seen the ducking and diving. The first ducking and diving was attacking colleagues—Mark Mitchell and Michael Woodhouse. How dare they ask questions about why this drug dealer had been granted New Zealand residence. Then the next stage was "Let's throw the immigration officials under the bus. It's all their fault." But hang on a moment. The Minister had not even read the file that was provided by the New Zealand Immigration Service and secondly the file made it absolutely plain that this was a bad bugger which this House and this country would not want a bar of. I want to join with colleagues and say that Iain Lees-Galloway must go. The reality is that him staying in the portfolio completely blows New Zealanders' confidence in our immigration system. All of us MPs deal with hundreds of cases of good people that want to come to this country and his management of this file has completely damaged not just his reputation but the reputation of the Immigration Service and the reputation of this increasingly incompetent Government."