Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:608;Page:5553] 
6.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Is she of the opinion that her Minister of Immigration is on top of her portfolio responsibilities; if so why? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 
 
 on behalf of the 
 Prime Minister 
: Yes because she is a hard-working and conscientious Minister. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Putting aside the obvious—that the information Minister for Iraq was also very similarly qualified— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will please come to the question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: OK. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: That was not funny yesterday and it is less funny today. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: It will not be funny tomorrow as well. The Minister is living proof that New Zealanders can take a joke. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I give the member a final warning. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Sorry. He was— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And that is why I have not put the member out. Now please ask the question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I thank you for your indulgence Mr Speaker. How can the Minister of Immigration possibly be on top of her portfolio when her open-door immigration policy has created a situation where on one day 3 May in the Auckland District Court alone at least 24 immigrants appeared on multiple charges involving extortion kidnappings aggravated robberies and assaults with intent to rob; and when does the Prime Minister expect the Minister to get on top of this alarming situation which is outlined in this document here? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Firstly let me correct the member. There is no open-door immigration policy in this country and the member knows that. Secondly if the member wants to make assertions about immigrants being a disproportionate cause of crime in this country he should check with my other department the Ministry of Justice where he will find for example that Asian immigrants perform disproportionately less crime than any other group and in fact half the level of crime of their proportion of the population. If the member wants to look at where crime comes from he will find that most of it is home-grown. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can the Minister possibly come to that answer knowing full well that in many cases the country of origin is not asked of the offender? Otherwise if he cannot tell us that then he is again simply misleading this House again. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: It is not this member who is misleading the House; it is the person who has asked the question. I will seek leave at the end of answering this question to table two documents: one document from the Ministry of Justice on the sentencing and convicting of offenders which shows that the other category in terms of ethnicity 79 percent of which is Asian committed only 3 percent of the crime in this country. The other document which comes from the police makes a distinction of Asiatic as an ethnic group which indicates that it commits 2.2 percent of the crime in this country. The member should stop making allegations about ethnic groups for which he can never produce the evidence to back up. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What is the rate of increase and what are the per capita figures in respect of the other category that he now asserts is a low crime - committing area? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The figures that I can give to the member are these: it is my understanding that the Asian section of the population now constitutes something around 6 percent; and the crime rate as set out in the police figures indicates that that group is committing 2.2 percent of the crime in this country. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This Minister was asked what the percentage increase and growth figures are. We want to know that and I have asked him that very very carefully. If he cannot answer that he should say he does not have the figures not seek to avoid it by providing information not asked for. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That point is valid. I think the Minister should actually address that part. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Because that question has nothing to do with the original question that was asked I do not have those figures with me. Those figures would be available. I can indicate that the Asian section of the population has increased rapidly but the most important point in terms of the proportionality of crime committed by ethnic groups is that that is a group in the community that disproportionately commits less crime that other ethnic groups. 
Marc Alexander 
: Does the Prime Minister consider it a sign of failure in immigration policy when people like the Auckland Mayor John Banks call for a more coherent policy to help people integrate into their new community; and what is the Minister’s response to his claim that the strain on infrastructure caused by the current influx of migrants is actually making their lives unhappy and uncertain? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: With regard to one aspect of the question the Minister of Immigration and I and John Banks attended the opening of the Migrant Resource Centre in my own electorate and I heard the mayor speak on that occasion. The mayor was gushing in his praise for new migrants to New Zealand and welcoming their contribution. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I told the Minister I would seek leave for him to table his two documents—he asked for leave and described them. Is there any objection? 
Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table the court record of the Auckland District Court for 2 May showing 24 people charged with all sorts of serious offences in this country. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: I seek leave to table another document. It is entitled “By hoki where’s the scampi?” challenging Winston Peters to provide the evidence on the scampi fishing industry when he had no evidence. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That has no relation to this question. [ 
Interruption 
] The member has sought leave. Anyone can seek leave. Is there any objection? There is. 
Ron Mark 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to bring something to your attention and ask for your assistance. I have through written questions asked respective Ministers in the Government for precisely the sorts of figures that the Minister has just said he now has. He has told the House in his answer to the principal question that the figures of ethnic groups show specifically their levels of crime to support the figures he has given. I have been told in numerous answers to written questions that the amount of data involved does not warrant the time and the money involved in providing me with the answers I wanted which were specifically a breakdown of crime and offences by ethnicity. I have been denied that information and he now tells the House that he has it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. That is a debating point.