Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:615;Page:11160] 
2.  
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Does she stand by her response on  
Morning Report  
on 18 February that she did not put potentially legally privileged notes relating to the 16-year-old Sri Lankan girl recently deported from New Zealand into the public arena; if not why not? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 No because I accept it was misleading. 
Judith Collins 
: When she told the media this morning that she was technically correct when she denied putting the documents into the public arena how can that statement be correct when in the very same interview today she admitted to giving the  
Dominion Post  
a copy of the same information? Just how reckless with the truth can this Minister be? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The first part of the question is in order. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I made it very clear that I gave it to the  
Dominion Post  
after the TV3 item had screened and it asked me for a copy of it. The  
Dominion Post 
 was the only other media organisation that asked me for that at that stage. With regard to the first part of the question I regret making the impression that I was not responsible for releasing the information to TV3—I was responsible. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What does the Minister make of the Sri Lankan girl’s lawyers’ claim that the documentation was given to their client—one who apparently was unable to read English and spent all her time crying in the corner in a state of utter depression? In what circumstance would the Minister believe that that is a true story from the lawyers for the Sri Lankan lady? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I explained yesterday how I understood the matter was referred to the Mt Albert electorate office. It was from that office that it was sent to me. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: In the light of various claims about the origin of the document and how it came to end up at least temporarily in her possession does the document she released contain a fax header number; if so whose number is it? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: No it does not. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: In light of the Minister’s admission that she misled the media and the New Zealand public and her acceptance that the public will have concerns about her credibility will she resign her ministerial warrants; if not why not? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I made it clear to the Prime Minister this morning that if she had lost confidence in me I would offer my resignation without reservation. 
Simon Power 
: Why should anybody have any confidence in anything that Minister and the Immigration Service may say and do in light of her serious abuse of the ministerial office and the “lying in unison” incident? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I believe I have been a very good Minister of Immigration. Yesterday was a lapse in judgment. It was a mistake and I have fronted up and apologised for it. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Does the Minister believe that the New Zealand public should have confidence that when she next gets into a tight situation she will not once again trundle around the press gallery with documents leaked from personal files? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: That does not reflect the correspondence I have had from the public today. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was whether the Minister believed that the public should have confidence in her given her treatment of confidential information. When I was the Minister of Social Welfare if a Children Young Persons and Their Families Service case had gone public and I had trundled around the press gallery with a piece of paper on it that would have been seen as an outrage. That is why I asked that question of the Minister. She did not address or answer it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I thought she did. She did not accept the member’s premise. 
Judith Collins 
: I seek leave of the House to table an affidavit by the girl’s lawyer Carole Curtis dated today as well as a letter from the lawyer dated today. 
Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Quite frequently when people stand in this House and attempt to table documents you are quite hard in terms of making sure that the member indicates to the House what is in them. Now would it come as a shock to the House for example if the affidavits that Ms Collins wants to present contain material quite unrelated to this case? Surely the member tabling a document should be required to say what is in them. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If any member from any party other than the member’s own party had asked for a further explanation I would have sought it. No one objected so the documents were tabled. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. As long as I have been in this House when a member seeks to table a document following the Standing Orders they are also required to state briefly what the document covers. That has been the normal course of action. I note that the member who sought to table the documents is a relatively new member. I do not think she has attempted to table an affidavit before in the House. I just ask that the same procedure as usual be followed. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The same procedure will be followed. The documents are now tabled. Any member and any member of the press can come up and get copies of them.