Peters Winston: Immigration Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: Immigration Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 03 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:1962. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Sometimes you hear a new member rise in the House who is capable of assembling an argument that is soundly based and who is aware of the facts and frankly the political system is advantaged by it. Sad to say that last speech by Jami-Lee Ross was not one of those occasions.  
New Zealand First’s immigration policy is one that is planned that is focused that is in New Zealand’s economic and social interests and that is aware that we already have here significant numbers of unemployed homeless and sick people whom we at the last election were required to have regard to. The second thing about New Zealand First’s immigration policy is that every political party in Asia—no matter where you go; all the way to Turkey—supports the principles behind it. Just in case anybody is going to shout words of xenophobia and racism you cannot find one political party in any part of Asia all the way to Turkey that is not in line with New Zealand First’s thinking on this matter.  
The Immigration Amendment Bill was pulled out of National’s sleeve as a decoy for the scandal that is going on in respect of Epsom and John Banks. That is why National did it out of left field in the same way as it announced at about the same time a change of access to student loans. You can see there is no research behind this bill. There is no hard-core work behind it and National wants us to come out and support it in what is purely a dog whistle.  
Let me tell that last member who was on his feet that on any given day right now—go and check with the Minister of Immigration—there are 20000 overstayers in New Zealand. There are 20000 overstayers in an age of computerisation where not manually but in terms of technology you can instantly know who has not left. So what National is running is a total circus in immigration at the moment. It has no idea who is here what they are doing and why they are here. So do not get up and tell us you have got a bill preparing for the future when the face of the future is with you now. You have got massive numbers of overstayers in this country—most of whom I might add are white not Asian not Polynesian and not Melanesian—and you do not know who is here.  
 And then you have got a man called Kim Dotcom who paid $10 million in respect of Government bonds. 
Andrew Williams 
: How much? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: $10 million. He bought his way into the country with a criminal conviction. How on earth he has survived the—to put it in ordinary terms—fat index factor which is required to pass the health certificate is beyond me. But there he is 26 stone of him in this country because for the National Party assets and placement in this country are for sale. It is a disgraceful policy without one shred of principle at all. Now it has pulled this out of its sleeve because the ACT Party is in trouble. Take this legislation back to where it came from and do it properly.  
New Zealand will be under international scrutiny if and when refugees start landing on our shores and if they can make Canada they can certainly make New Zealand. It is a shorter reach from Australia for them to get here than to go to Canada. 
Jami-Lee Ross 
: Then support our bill. Support it.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: No no. We are not going to support a shibboleth. We are not going to support an exercise in deception. We are not for dog-whistle legislation. We are for real policy. If you cannot tell me why 20000 overstayers are here—if you cannot tell us why 20000 overstayers are here—then you have no plan at all in respect of this legislation.  
Let me ask you this very simple question. Where is your detention facility? You have not got one have you? 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Gerry’s place. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Gerry’s place. You might have one Mr Assistant Speaker but— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Don’t bring me into the debate. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I know; I appreciate that Mr Assistant Speaker. That is the last thing I wanted to do. Where is National’s detention centre to go with its much-lauded bill in the House today? What is the answer to that question? Not a syllable not a sound not a mutter not a murmur because there is no detention centre to back this legislation up. But National wants to look tough just in case a boat arrives and it can say that all the rest of the parties did not support it. One more time: where is the detention centre that goes with the detention policy? 
Hon Member 
: Devonport. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Oh Devonport. That is not a detention centre. You can just walk out the door when you feel like it. That is not what a detention centre looks like in any part of Asia or in any part of the world. Does New Zealand really want a Christmas Island type of detention centre run by Serco which is currently dealing with mass hunger strikes in Australian detention centres? Remember who Serco is? The National members should because it also is the private prison contractor for the Mt Eden prison. In case you just did not know Serco is not covering itself in glory running a private prison either. It is having some real problems and these will be coming out over the next few weeks. But that is the point. Where are the policy and the structure to back up this statement in the House? No doubt National will go around and bore the chambers of commerce and the Rotary clubs witless saying “We have got strong policies to meet any contingency.” No it has not. It has just got a statement that it is doing something and it is hoping that nobody will notice.  
We say that if you are going to have legislation then you need to have full impoundment facilities both in respect of trained officers and also in respect of facilities themselves. But let me ask you this question. How can you even claim to have an immigration policy or control policy when your customs borders are understaffed massively? Sometimes when there are two boats in at the Auckland harbour and planes are coming in they have a shortage of dogs—one dog to three handlers. There are the handlers but no dog. 
Jami-Lee Ross 
: Send his caucus. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Pardon? 
Jami-Lee Ross 
: Send your caucus. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: What did he say? Actually the Labour member whom he was admiring really has to be— 
Jami-Lee Ross 
: No I wasn’t admiring. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: The Labour member whom he was admiring must be seriously concerned now. Because if a guy like that admired me I would be in trouble. So would my caucus.  
My point is we all know that our customs facilities are massively understaffed. We have not got trained animals. All sorts of things are going on. Now we have got a threat—and it is a real threat—that a boat will make this place will make New Zealand one day and here National has got a piece of legislation that is not backed up by the impact statement document. This impact document says: “A ‘mass arrival’ for this purpose means an arrival by a substantial group of people (by sea or air); not on a craft that is providing a scheduled international service;”—I do not know why that is of importance—and “not as a crew or passengers on a vessel that is travelling to New Zealand in the ordinary course of business.” Frankly that is the kind of business these people-traffickers are engaged in. That is their ordinary course of business. That is what they specialise in.  
So in short you have got here a piece of legislation that is without any rhyme or reason without any structure and is probably compellingly best imaged by the people National has put up to speak on it.  
Jami-Lee Ross 
: You’re up. I’m so hurt. I’m hurt.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: No I am speaking against it. National put the man from Waikato up and he gives us a story about the whole world wanting to come to New Zealand. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: “Cue Ball”. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: That is right. He is for mass immigration. He is. This is despite the fact that this country used to be No. 2 in the world when we had a seriously focused immigration policy and brought people here whom we needed not those who need us. That is our difference. That is the difference between our policy and that Government’s policy. Happy to have people who cannot make it to hospital cannot get treatment cannot get jobs cannot get homes and here National is putting up a policy that it says will prepare us for any contingency.  
You might call it the Maginot Line policy—the Maginot Line policy that it has got. So in come the Germans straight around the Maginot Line and history is repeating itself. Here they are. National has got a bill for detention of 10 or more people excepting that it has got no place to put them. And if 500 arrived it would have no idea what to do with them.  
This is a party that once let over 234 people out of detention when they had TB because it said they needed to be reunited with their families for Christmas. Does everybody forget this? That is the National Party’s record time and time again—20000 overstayers and it has got no idea who is here. Frankly this bill is a total waste of time and New Zealand First will not support it.