Jones Dail: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Jones Dail: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:627;Page:21898] 
1. DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Does current policy encourage expatriate New Zealanders to return to New Zealand permanently? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 Government policy is designed to improve and promote the opportunities in New Zealand and it looks to attract highly skilled and talented people including expatriates. 
Dail Jones 
: Why then is a Mr Dean Kenny a sixth-generation New Zealander and a former Otago All Black and New Zealand Maori player who has returned to New Zealand with his British wife of 8 years and their two children being put through the third degree by non - New Zealand immigration officials in so far as his wife’s application to stay here is concerned? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I am not aware of the particular case. There could be a whole pile of circumstances there. If the member would like to give me the details of the case I will look into it for him. 
Moana Mackey 
: Why is this a good time for expat New Zealanders to return home to New Zealand? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Because—[ 
Interruption 
] 1.5 percent and going down. It is a good time because under this Labour-led Government unemployment is at the second-lowest level in the OECD. Over 2 million Kiwis are in work and over 260000 new jobs have been created. That is a far cry from the dark days of the 1990s under the National Government when unemployment was rising and opportunities were declining. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: Does the Minister agree that it would be a real incentive to return home if New Zealanders living overseas knew that a proportion of their student debt would be wiped for every year they stayed in the country and contributed through paid and unpaid work as the Green Party policy suggests? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: People who want to come back home make that decision for a whole range of reasons. Of course one of the issues will be that wiping the debts of people who are overseas is unfair on those people who have paid their way all through university without taking out a loan. 
Paul Adams 
: Can the Minister confirm that most expatriate New Zealanders live and work in highly diverse cultures overseas and that one of the reasons they may be reluctant to return to this country is the small-minded anti-immigration sentiment whipped up by New Zealand First? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: There is a range of reasons but that could well be one. 
Dail Jones 
: Why is it that immigrants such as Mr Dean Kenny and his wife have to produce passport documents twice documents to prove that their children are actually theirs photos of them holding hands and numerous other documents to prove that they have been living together in a genuine and stable relationship and have to wait for 12 months before they get a decision; and does an 8-year Western marriage with two kids not speak for itself? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: As I say I do not know the details of that case. What I can say is that if the system was lax the New Zealand First members would be the first to scream whinge and whine about it. 
Dail Jones 
: Why does it appear so easy instead for refugees and other immigrants to bring family members here under the family reunification policies as in the case of Najim al-Ali who successfully brought in 15 family members when New Zealanders such as Dean Kenny returning here with their families are being treated like criminals in their own country? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Of course the refugee reunification of families policy was supported when the leader of the party that member belongs to was the Treasurer. It seems inexcusable to me that New Zealand First now wants to make political points out of this situation when it supported those kinds of policies as part of a National-led Government.