Bennett David: Immigration Bill — In Committee 
Bennett David: Immigration Bill — In Committee 
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DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I will follow on from the two speeches that have been made on Part 3 of the Immigration Bill. The first speech made by Allan Peachey was a very good explanation of what is happening in this part. Basically we are replacing a series of visas with a much more simplistic system whereby people have a common visa. There are some differences for people who come into the country under limited visas but essentially the bill replaces the present complex system with something a lot simpler and easier to manage. 
I think Lianne Dalziel made some very good points. All members of this House will have engaged in the activity of assisting their constituents through the immigration process. For constituent MPs especially in an urban constituency that is probably the bulk of our work. In my constituency about 70 percent of my work is on immigration-related issues. We are constantly doing that work. Immigration is one of the few areas where there are discretions. If people do not pay their taxes there is not a lot we can do. But if someone wants to stay in New Zealand we have the ability to advocate on that person’s behalf to the Minister or to the Department of Labour. I must admit that during the term I have been in this House both Labour and National have been very good to deal with in respect of immigration cases and we expect that to continue in the future so that constituent MPs can represent their people and assist them in areas of concern to them. 
I think this visa process goes to a fundamental question. We have a problem in immigration in New Zealand in that we do not specify to people who come into New Zealand what holding a temporary visa actually means. When people enter New Zealand on a work permit or a visitor’s visa it is a temporary visa. There is no way of looking at it other than that: it is a temporary visa. If someone comes in under a residency programme the system is different. Once a lot of migrants and a lot of people who come to New Zealand as visitors or on a work permit get settled here they forget that they came in on a temporary visa and have an expectation that they will be able to stay here. Their children have been born here their children are attending school here and they have built up family connections. They have friends a community has been built around them and they have a work environment. They have made New Zealand their home. It normally takes a couple of years to do that and they do not then realise that they entered New Zealand on a temporary visa. They are the people who come to our offices and say that they have sons or daughters born here and they have worked for 3 or 4 years in New Zealand industries when we have wanted them to. They ask what the story is and say that they need to be able to stay in New Zealand. That situation has been going on for many many years. 
The crucial point is that we need to educate people when they come to the border on what their visa status actually is. People need to understand what a temporary visa is in comparison with a long-term visa leading to residency. That is a major part of the way that people live their lives while they are here. If they do not understand that difference they can easily forget their entry point and then have an unrealistic expectation when compared with the original visa they entered New Zealand on. I think the approach taken here will assist in that education process. We need to engage in education so that people do not have unrealistic expectations and so that they have a sense of certainty about their status. There is nothing worse for people living in a country that they have made their home than to find that they do not have the status they thought they had. That is the situation that we are confronted with time and time again as constituent members of Parliament. 
I think this is an important aspect of the bill both from the policy that it represents and also from the need to educate people who come into New Zealand so that we give the right signals and people can understand the journey that can come with being a New Zealand resident and then a New Zealand citizen. I commend this bill to the House.