Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): Today we are told that the Minister of Immigration has apologised to the Prime Minister. He has apologised to the Prime Minister for the terrible decision of giving residency to a convicted drug smuggler. Well he should apologise to New Zealand. He should apologise to New Zealand for his failure of judgment and care. He should apologise to New Zealand for putting their safety at risk and he should apologise to New Zealand for likely costing us millions of dollars in legal fees down the line. But has he done that? Has the Minister of Immigration apologised to New Zealanders for this debacle? Has he even considered resigning? No he has not. In fact we have had the indignity of members opposite—Hon Kris Faafoi: Deputy to Mitchell—Mark's deputy!NICOLA WILLIS: —congratulating him—congratulating him—for his performance on this case Minister Faafoi. Instead we have seen a disgraceful blame game being played: blame the process blame the officials blame the judge. Minister Iain Lees-Galloway made the decision. The failure is his. This is his responsibility. When Ministers are appointed they are appointed to exercise the utmost care in making decisions on behalf of New Zealanders. They are appointed to positions of great responsibility because we trust them to exercise discretion and judgment on our behalf. So let us consider the judgment that was applied in this case.We have the case of a convicted criminal coming to New Zealand on a false passport. He engages in criminal activity. He is convicted and sentenced for five years for importing illegal drugs. His case ends him up in prison and then it comes to Minister Lees-Galloway to consider his deportation. And what does Mr Lees-Galloway do when the case comes before him? Does he say This one smells a bit off. This guy doesn't really seem like the kind of guy that New Zealanders would like amongst them."? No no no. What he does is he intervenes to overturn the deportation order and grants residency. He does it he says with careful consideration in the words of the Prime Minister. Well let me tell you what the Prime Minister thinks counts as careful consideration. He gave it 45 minutes. He did not read the file. He did not ask the right questions. He did not ask for more information. He said "This is a simple one—45 minutes. I'll get the letter out by 5 o'clock tonight. Time for a drink." Well—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! No it's inappropriate for the member to say that the honourable Minister is about to have a drink. OK?NICOLA WILLIS: Mr Assistant Speaker I'm sure it was a cup of tea and I would not infer otherwise. Now what he did was he leapt to judgment—that's the challenge that I have—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): No. [Interruption] Order! I made a ruling. The member does not make a comment about it. She can carry on if she wants to.NICOLA WILLIS: What he did was he leapt to judgment. He didn't have the judgment to see that this was a case that required more than 45 minutes' consideration. This was a case that required thorough examination on behalf of New Zealanders and he did not do it. He had to weigh up the rights of a convicted criminal against the danger to the New Zealand public and in weighing up those rights who came up trumps? The convicted drug dealer came up trumps. That's who came up trumps with this Minister of Immigration. Today we had the great revelation from the Minister that in future he'll take more time he'll change his approach he'll do it a little differently. Well it is too little too late. Trust and confidence in New Zealand's immigration system have been damaged. The reputation of good officials here in Wellington has been damaged. New Zealand's residency standards have been compromised. It took him 45 minutes to make the decision. It's taken a month to review. It will take years and years to undo the damage. And what are we told today in this House? We are told that it's simply a matter of fixing the process. Well you can't fix a Minister's judgment and that is what is actually at fault today because it does not matter how tight the process is it does not matter how many steps there are in it if a Minister can't smell a dog when one's right in front of him then New Zealanders should not have to expect him to have a warrant. This is the Minister's failure. The Prime Minister should hold him accountable. Members opposite should be disgraced. New Zealand has been let down once again by the Labour-led Government."