Yates Dianne: Immigration Advisers Licensing Bill — Third Reading 
Yates Dianne: Immigration Advisers Licensing Bill — Third Reading 
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DIANNE YATES (Labour) 
: 
 It is with pleasure that I rise to speak on the Immigration Advisers Licensing Bill. The previous speaker has just pointed out that this bill is in response to a perceived and a very real need for people who are going to be immigration advisers to have some standards and this bill sets the standards.  
It is very important for people who are coming to this country that they are not ripped off or disillusioned by their experience of dealing with immigration advisers as they have been in the past. We have just heard the story of one person who was giving wrong advice. Many of us as MPs have heard from many people who have been given bad advice and who have had very very bad experiences. I know of a case where someone was getting advice and the adviser was holding the person’s passport. I ended up by saying to the person that the adviser was not allowed to do that and the person should go back and demand the passport. I am sure many MPs in the past have come across many instances where people have been dealt with badly.  
It used to be that an immigration adviser was a failed MP or a failed lawyer or a deregistered lawyer. All sorts of people decided that anyone could be an immigration adviser—it was a good thing to do one just gave advice and one did not need any standards or need to know about the law and so on. This bill is very very important. It means that immigration advisers must be licensed they must know what they are talking about they must be able to give advice and they must work within the law. This bill is really really overdue. We do feel very very sorry for those people who have come to this country and had bad experiences. As the previous speaker said many still have a nasty taste in their mouth about what happened to them through the process of getting here.  
We note there are exemptions from the licensing. Members of Parliament and members of their staff are exempt and that is necessary because as members of Parliament we get a great number of people coming to our offices asking about their immigration status and what they should do where they should go and what action they should follow. We note that foreign diplomats and consular staff are exempt. We note that employees of the public service who provide immigration advice are exempt obviously. Lawyers who are registered are exempt. Persons employed by or working as volunteers for community law centres are exempt. They give advice to people who come to them and really want to know where to go. People who provide immigration advice offshore for student permits are exempt.  
So there are exemptions for people who are able to give advice but generally we do not want any Tom Dick or Harry or Jane or Joan or whoever setting themselves up as immigration advisers and as we have seen in the past giving wrong advice or to put it crudely ripping off people who want to come to this country by demanding large amounts of money delivering wrong advice or no advice at all and holding on to people’s documents and making them wait and wait without receiving any satisfaction. I see the Minister nodding in agreement that this legislation is in response to corrupt practices that were going on. We thank the Minister for coming up with this legislation. We thank the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and we thank those who made submissions because they informed the process and have been extremely important in this whole area.  
We note that the bill deals with codes of conduct as to what is expected of an immigration adviser such as what they are expected to know how they are expected to behave how they are expected to deal with their clients what documentation they deal with their fees being reasonable and so on. The job of the registrar will be to develop a code of conduct that advisers will have to comply with. It is very very good that there is a complaints process and a disciplinary tribunal so people will have a form of redress will be able to take complaints and will be able to have some form of redress should they be dealt with erroneously or not get the proper information advice and treatment they should expect.  
We note that those who are licensed should have a certificate and that people who are seeking advice will be able to check that they are going to a legitimate adviser and not to someone who has set him or herself up. As I said as constituent MPs many of us know people who have been to advisers been given wrong advice and ended up in tears in our offices wondering what to do next and where to go. We have felt extremely sorry for those people and are very grateful for this bill because it will ensure that there will be some standards that those standards will be carried out and that those people will have an ability to make complaints and to deal with the process.  
Once again I thank everyone who has been involved and I express an apology to those people who in the past were dealt with by people who were not up to scratch and did not give the advice they should have given. We express a big apology to those New Zealand immigrants who as Sue Moroney said still have a nasty taste in their mouths from their first experiences of this country—from people who did not treat them in the way we would think was typical of good New Zealanders or in a way that we ourselves or our families have experienced.  
Just last weekend I heard someone say that when they came to New Zealand they were not dealt with properly and that feeling does not go away. People still hold that grudge for a long time when they have been as we have said ripped off by people who have not had the integrity that will be demanded with this licensing process. So once again I say thank you to all those who have been involved and we look forward to the implementation of this law and greater justice and fairness for those who exercise it.