Dalziel Lianne: General Debates 
Dalziel Lianne: General Debates 
[Volume:614;Page:10376] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. I observed a news report today that referred to a coward and a bully and to his party as the home of fear failure and resentment. Who could that report be referring to? I cannot imagine who is being referred to. I can say though that the article was a response to the taxpayer-funded anti-immigration propaganda— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. A member cannot hide behind the cowardly craven skirts of some other outside-of-Parliament article as some sort of excuse to offend the Standing Orders of this House. That is precisely what the Minister is doing. I know that she has not been here long but she surely must know that. She should be asked now to withdraw and apologise for the inference that she has clearly made about someone being cowardly. I am sure that she is referring to one of her parliamentary colleagues. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: If that is what the member said would the Minister withdraw and apologise. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Yes the article was referring to Mr Peters. I withdraw and apologise. 
 It is propaganda because it is deliberately designed to mislead. It is propaganda because it is wrong. I believe in free speech and we as members of Parliament can say a lot more in this House because here we have more free speech than most. That is one of the privileges of being here yet I am not allowed to use words like “liar” “cheat” “fraudster” “coward” and “hypocrite” if referring to an individual member which I am not doing at this moment. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member may not use those words. They may be appropriate to her but they are not to me. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I do not need any assistance. The words are not acceptable in this House because the implication is quite clear also. I ask the member to withdraw those words. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I withdraw. All members in this House are honourable members. 
Dail Jones 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You have ruled twice against this Minister in barely a minute and a half. I suggest that if she does it once more you should use your right to terminate her speech. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I do not need any assistance from the member in that direction. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: There is a side of me that wants to ignore this pamphlet because unwarranted publicity is something that this member is after. Publicity is what he is craving and to put it quite bluntly he does not deserve it. I think it is important that we place on the record of the House the abhorrence that every other member of Parliament who does not belong to the New Zealand First Party feels about this disgraceful publication and about the fact that New Zealand First spent not one cent of its own money on it but spent taxpayers’ money to put out this filthy lying propaganda— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That is three times in 3 minutes. Not only is the member incorrect about New Zealand First not putting money towards this pamphlet— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: No that is a debating matter. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: —we are proud to and we did—but the point is that she cannot use a tirade of epithets and give abuse and get away with it in the way she just has for the third time in less than 3 minutes. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I agree. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The right honourable member was correct in his first two points of order but not in the last one because the last statement was not a statement about him. [ 
Interruption 
] It was not—I was listening very carefully. It was about a pamphlet that she said contained lies. A pamphlet is not a member of Parliament and I think one is entitled to say that it is a lying filthy piece of propaganda or whatever the phrase was providing one is not referring to an MP. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I thank the member for that but I as Chair took the statement to be a reference to members of this House particularly to Mr Peters and his party and I ask the Minister to withdraw that. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I withdraw it. Every other right-thinking member of this House believes that it is abhorrent to put on the record false information misleading information designed to bring people into disrepute. This morning that member challenged me. He asked whether I upheld the rule of law because I said I was sympathetic to some postal workers who did not want to place this offensive material in people’s letterboxes. I make the point that I do not agree that postal workers are the ones who can decide what we receive. I have never said that they can make that decision themselves. But the point that has been made is that posties generally take pride in their work. They take pride in being part of this country’s infrastructure and they can take no pride in delivering what one commentator has described as a nasty little item like this. “Nasty” is the politest term I could describe it with. It contains distorted information. It ignores changes that this Government has implemented. It ignores the fact that those members opposite did nothing when they were in Government to resolve some of the problems they have identified. They have deliberately set about inciting racial hatred against all migrants to this country. 
I want to read out one of the emails I have received today. It states “Dear Ms Dalziel I am totally incensed by the latest report in our paper the  
Press 
 concerning the circular that will be coming through the mail and the slur it will make against all immigrants. Myself and family arrived from England 9 years ago. I brought money and my skill having been in business for 16 years previously and setting up a business here. It has certainly not been easy and we had put up with enough prejudice during this time as it is without this lunatic inciting more.” He carries on—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister knows full well—and Mr Prebble is wrong—that my photograph and signature are on that pamphlet and that is why he is wrong—[ 
Interruption 
] Well the post office has not been delivering them but it will. I guarantee it will. The Minister cannot use that phrase quoting from someone who has purportedly written to her—and I do not know whether anyone has. But she cannot then hide behind that person’s comments which would be unparliamentary if she were to use them. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I agree. Any quotations used must not be cast in unparliamentary language. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: The email continues: “That man—and I use this term loosely—should never be in the position he is. I will personally be getting advice about suing him for libel and defamation of character if a circular enters my post box.” 
That is just one letter from an ordinary New Zealander who came to New Zealand 9 years ago. That is the impact that member is having on these people. I want to make a few points about this pamphlet. New Zealanders are not being squeezed out of their own country. They left in droves when that member was the Deputy Prime Minister. More New Zealanders than ever are coming back to this country simply because they can see some hope and some future here. The past 4 years have seen an average of just over 40000 migrants a year coming here so hundreds of thousands of Third World immigrants could not have come here since Labour took office. The pamphlet is filled with lies and deceits.