Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to take a call in the House in the general debate today. Can I just say firstly to the Minister of Police: be very careful about the statements that you're making in this House because yes I think you're doing a good job and you certainly started with the confidence of the front-line police officers but you're in great danger at the moment standing in this House and making statements like that especially around standards which aren't just a concern actually with the public; they're a concern within the police service themselves. Stay focused on standards Minister. I assure you.The other thing I want to say is this: you don't stand in the House and talk about how phenomenal everyone is when you've just had the Minister of Internal Affairs carry out an inquiry at the highest levels of the police leadership and you're not being transparent around it. If you want some feedback from the front lines I'll give it to you because I was with our local police in Warkworth at a function on Saturday night which the Minister actually failed to attend—Hon Tracey Martin: I was there in the back row you ninny!Hon MARK MITCHELL: —and I'll let you know. I'll let you know what they said.SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. I can accept that the member was not trying to call me a ninny but she effectively did. I do require the member to withdraw and apologise.Hon Tracey Martin: I withdraw and apologise sir.Hon MARK MITCHELL: So I'll just finish by saying to the Minister quite simply this: Minister they have to go out every day and they face the scrutiny—and they should face the scrutiny—of the public and also the officers the sergeants and the officers in charge of them. They face the Independent Police Conduct Authority. They have to deal with all of that. They've just had one of their senior leaders come into this Parliament as part of a process like that and there's no transparency around it. Their Minister doesn't even have the report. So be very careful what you do when you stand in this House—SPEAKER: Order!Hon MARK MITCHELL: —sorry Mr Speaker—when the Minister stands in this House and starts talking about front-line staff when actually you need to show some leadership and be transparent around things that are happening at the highest levels. Just to let you know Minister that that's actually—get in touch with the front line and what they're thinking and what they're feeling.In relation to Karel Sroubek can I just quickly read to you a letter that was sent to the Minister of Immigration: Dear Minister. This letter relates to the decision taken by you to grant permanent residency to Karel Sroubek. I believe that the briefing documents provided to you would have clearly shown that you should never have granted a residency pathway to Mr Sroubek. I can make myself available for a meeting with you on this case but must make it very clear it will be an unconstrained meeting and although I will respect confidentiality regarding specifics and individuals I reserve the right to be able to speak publicly and indicate after the briefing whether my position has changed at all. As you know there is a very high level of public interest in your decision and I've been very clear about my own position and the need for transparency." That letter was sent to the Minister this morning so I'll be very interested to see what his response to that is.The reason why this is so serious and the reason why this calls into direct question the Minister's ability to be able to make decisions that relate to New Zealand's public safety—and there's actually two things that inherently a Government must pay close attention to: national security and public safety. There's been an abject failure on the part of the Minister. When you hear him say in response to the Hon Michael Woodhouse's question at the start of this process on 30 October in this House—he came in here and he said "I've taken the opportunity to reflect on the decision that I made and to consider the information that was available to me at the time of making that decision. Having done that I absolutely stand by the action that I took."So even after the New Zealand public had come out very clearly along with the Opposition and said "This is a very poor decision. On the face of it we can't see any reason why a convicted criminal from the Czech Republic and New Zealand has been granted a New Zealand residency and is actually protected from a deportation process." he then had time to go away and actually ask additional questions. He was on notice. He was put on notice. He came back into this House after being put on notice after having the time to go away and seek more information—he came back into this House with a very arrogant attitude and told us all that he was going to stand by the action taken.Not only that; it gets worse. The Prime Minister comes into this House and stands up and says "Read between the lines." Her message to the nation was "Read between the lines." But it gets worse. Then the Deputy Prime Minister who normally is quite sensitive to this type of thing comes into this House and stands up and he says "I have reviewed the file and I back the Minister on his decision." You've got three people in New Zealand that believe that Karel Sroubek should be given the right and the honour of having a New Zealand residency—SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired."