Brown Peter: Border Security Bill — In Committee 
Brown Peter: Border Security Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:13294] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Labour members over there on the other side of the Chamber will be glad to hear that New Zealand First is going to support this part of the bill. That is simply because we have been consistently strong in advocating a tightening-up of our immigration law. We have been very very consistent on that. When we came to this Parliament after the last election we told the Government in no uncertain terms that the immigration law had to be tightened up. This segment of this bill does that to a small but positive degree. 
I remind members that but for the results of our efforts we would still be letting people into this country who could not speak a word of English. There are 300000 people in this country now who cannot speak English. So the Government has listened to us. I have to say “Fair go.” because the Government listened to us and toughened up the English-language test. We advocated loudly and strongly that immigrants to this country should have a job to come to. Oh the former Minister is over there on the Government benches and she knows—[ 
Interruption 
] The former Minister is sitting there on the Government benches and she knows the emphasis we put on immigrants having a job to come to here. She listened to that. It took a long time but she listened and changed the law. Now an immigrant to this country must have a job to come to. We advocated that there should be health-screening checks for all immigrants. We advocated that loud and long and I have to give the Minister her due: she listened to us and screening tests are now to come in. We advocated that immigration consultants should be registered and the new Minister—there he is standing over there in the Chamber—listened to us. Now he says on the radio that immigration consultants should be registered. 
Lianne Dalziel 
: I was saying it before you. 
PETER BROWN 
: I remind the member that New Zealand First went into the election with three issues. Immigration was one of our major issues and the Minister has listened to us. In particular had my leader New Zealand First’s leader the Rt Hon Winston Peters not made the good former Minister’s life hell at times—he made it an absolute hell—we would have got nowhere. But she listened to us and tightened up the immigration law. 
We want to say to the Government members that we want the law to be tightened up even more. We do not want people to come into this country after destroying their documents on a plane because they think they can stay here forever and a day use taxpayer-funded services to get legal aid and make appeal after appeal to stay here. If they destroy their documents and come here then out they should go! 
Lianne Dalziel 
: Why didn’t you do something about it when you were at court? 
PETER BROWN 
: I tell the former Minister that there is another step New Zealand First wants the Government to take immediately. I say to Mr and Mrs Immigrant that if they commit a crime in this country then out they should go. People who commit crimes should go back to where they came from I tell Mr Worth. And those crimes includes offences on our roads. We will not stand by and let people come here commit offence after offence—like having no driver’s licence or like that guy the other day who killed an innocent New Zealander after being disqualified from driving goodness knows how many times—and be tolerated here. No if a person commits an offence on our roads as far as New Zealand First is concerned out that person should go. We put a question on that issue to the Minister a year ago and the answer was something along the lines that the Government was looking into it and would be doing something about it. That was over a year ago and nothing has happened. Had the Government acted on that issue when we first raised it in this Parliament—it was my colleague Ron Mark who raised it—the lady who died the other day would still be alive. That shows the seriousness of this issue—and there have been other events like that. 
New Zealand First will support this part of the bill because we want the Immigration Act to be toughened up. This is a beautiful country. It is a tremendous country and we are not going to stand by and let any Tom Dick or Harry come here.