Ardern Shane: Identity (Citizenship and Travel Documents) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Identity (Citizenship and Travel Documents) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:625;Page:20102] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) 
: 
 We have just heard the traditional left rump of the Labour Party. It was interesting to listen to that speech tonight because that member—former Labour then NewLabour then Alliance and now Progressive— 
Hon Damien O'Connor 
: Regressive. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Progressive—I know that that is an oxymoron in this particular case but it is the Progressive Party. It was a very interesting speech made by Mr Robson who knows a little bit about this issue. 
I say to the member and to the Labour Party that this process is one of balance. I acknowledge the officials here tonight who assisted the Government Administration Committee through that process. This is an issue of balance. On one hand we have to make sure that people who come to New Zealand meet a certain standard. I acknowledge the comments made by Stephen Franks earlier on. It is a privilege to be in New Zealand not a right—unless one is born here. It is a privilege. This is our country and our home and it is a privilege for people to be here. But on the other hand New Zealand is a country made up of migrants. The point that Mr Robson made was a good one. Michael Joseph Savage would turn in his grave if he could see where the Labour Party is trying to take New Zealand today. 
I say to Mr Robson that there is a good reason for that too. Most of the migrants in those days were Anglo-Saxon English from mother England. They joined the trade unions and the Labour Party—and we all know what John Tamihere has to say about them today. We all know how much control unions have over the Labour Party today and John Tamihere is not too keen on that. 
We also know that as time has moved on New Zealand as a European country has almost been an accident of navigation. Captain Cook’s boat found it first. It is as simple as that. The first people to settle here were from an Anglo-Saxon background. The reality is that our near neighbours are Asian. It is an inevitable circumstance in a modern world that we will have more immigrants from that part of the world. At the moment 21000 people have an application lodged for citizenship of New Zealand. That is appalling given the Labour Party’s traditional liberal view of that process. It is equally appalling that 8000 people had to petition Parliament to bring about the kinds of changes that are being proposed. Eight thousand people had to petition Parliament under a Labour Government. 
Pansy Wong 
: Asian people. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: They were mainly Asian? Mainly Asian people had to petition the Parliament to bring about the changes and we have a Labour Government! It is incomprehensible as Mr Robson quite clearly stated. 
There are other aspects of this bill of course that the National Party was not convinced of. Members of the Government Administration Committee were not convinced that those changes were in the best interests of moving forward. One of them was the argument that as modern technology is moving so quickly passports now are easily forged and therefore we needed to move forward to a system of renewing passports every 5 years so we can keep ahead of the process. Even though technically that argument was robust there was no evidence to say that that was happening. So the National Party was not in support of that particular part of the proposal. 
It was equally disturbing to note that last year 20000 New Zealanders holding New Zealand citizenship left this country. We have to ask why that was. There is one simple answer. We have a Labour Government that will tax them and tax them until they find a country that wants them and values their contribution and their ability to get on in society and do well. One of those countries of course that has been the beneficiary of that gain has been our near neighbour Australia. Australia has only a 2-year time frame for people to gain citizenship. This is despite the Labour Government starting with Jim Anderton who belongs to the Progressive Party—the oxymoron in the New Zealand Parliament—that supports the Labour Party. 
His clarion call on becoming the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand in a previous Labour-led Government was: “Come home Kiwis. We will fix it up. This is your home country. Come back to New Zealand. You have a new Government now and I’m the Deputy Prime Minister.” At the same time I hasten to add he said: “I’m going to lower petrol prices.” What has happened? Every year 20000 New Zealanders go overseas and they do not intend to come back. They are telling us overwhelmingly that this Labour Government is the reason. 
I say to the House tonight that this legislation is overdue in some aspects and too heavy-handed in others. It will be interesting when the Minister takes a call during the Committee stage to see whether the bill will end up in the same form as at present. The National Party looks forward to that process before committing ourselves to what we will end up doing.