Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 11 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7320. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
4. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he have confidence in the Minister of Immigration? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can he have confidence in the Minister of Immigration when he told the House on 14 November that they will “need to meet health and good-character checks.” when in fact Immigration New Zealand rules regarding visitor visas mean that most China Southern Airlines passengers will not be subject to any health or character checks at all? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The member really if he has got very detailed questions needs to put them to the Minister of Immigration. But my understanding is that people including China Southern Airlines visitors who come to New Zealand will still need to apply for a visa and have all of those conditions met. What they will be waived is the economic test because the number of miles that they have flown indicate that they have got the resources to go back to China. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can he possibly have confidence in the Minister such that he is now making that answer given that the average length of stay in New Zealand for Chinese tourists is 5 days; how can he then continue to defend his Minister’s claim that they “still will need to meet health and good-character checks.”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I do not think the length of time that Chinese tourists stay in New Zealand has got anything to do with the question the member is asking. Chinese tourists tend to come for smaller periods of time at the moment. That is one of the reasons why we are working aggressively in that market to build up the length of time that they may stay in New Zealand so that they become higher-spending consumers. That is true also in Japan. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister is being asked how his Minister of Immigration can make those claims when that is not what the law is and it is not what is being applied by Immigration New Zealand either. I am not interested about the high value of their visit— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The member is now debating the matter. He can raise a point of order about whether or not his question was answered. In his question the member mentioned issues to do with how the Prime Minister could say what he said given that they had stayed here only 5 days if I remember correctly. What the member is now just raising by a point of order does not match exactly the supplementary question he asked. That is my dilemma in dealing with it. But he cannot debate the Prime Minister’s answer by way of a point of order. If the Prime Minister has not answered his question that is one thing but I do recollect that in the member’s question he related the issue of how the Prime Minister could say what he did given that they stayed here only 5 days on average. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We can be as obtuse as we like about this but the fact is that my question wants to know how a Minister can argue that there are health and good-character checks when there are not under the rules any such requirements at all for people who stay less than 6 months. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If the member feels aggrieved I will invite him to repeat his—was that exactly the question he asked? I invite him to repeat it. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: This is my question: given that the average length of stay in New Zealand for Chinese tourists is 5 days how can he continue to defend his Minister’s claim in this House that they “still will need to meet health and good-character checks.” when no such requirements are at all applied? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: As I said to the member if he wants detailed questions about immigration he needs to put those down for the Minister. But if that is what the Minister told the House I have no reason to deny that it is incorrect. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What confidence can you have in a Minister of Immigration who allows the Prime Minister to claim that one can be considered as a reasonably high net worth individual because they have travelled 40000 kilometres when a couple of trips back and forth between mainland China and Hong Kong gain such individuals frequent flyer status? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I do not have a global positioning system machine with me so I cannot exactly tell you how far it is between mainland China and Hong Kong but I suspect you might have to do a bit more than a couple of flights. But in principle there is quite a lot of logic in saying that if people can meet those frequent flyer sorts of tests that China Southern Airlines have they will likely be reasonably high-class individuals. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I call Brendan Horan. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I have called Brendan Horan. 
Brendan Horan 
: Does the Prime Minister agree that natural justice and due process are relevant in the administration of the Immigration Act? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I do and I think it is important to be consistent when one is applying that. I know that selection of people when they come to New Zealand for visas is difficult and when 171000 a year are coming that is really challenging. But when it is one of eight you would think you would get it right. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The House will come to order. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The right honourable Prime Minister both right honourable gentlemen should desist. Thank you. The House will settle down. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why did the Prime Minister on 28 November tell Parliament that Immigration New Zealand started to undertake work on the China Southern Airlines special deal from 4 September 2012 when first our Immigration New Zealand senior managers had enjoyed the hospitality of Chinese counterparts for months before September and second a ministerial section in the Immigration New Zealand weekly internal newspaper  
Visa Pak 
 dated 24 August 2012 confirmed that the China Southern Airlines deal would be effective from 1 September 2012 a full 4 days before the Prime Minister claimed the commencement of work on this issue? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Because that was the advice I received.