Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:647;Page:16679] 
10.  
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Has he read the letter tabled in the House yesterday from an unnamed immigration officer which states that “New Zealand’s immigration policies are just being flouted to the detriment of the integrity security and fabric of New Zealand.”; if so what other evidence has he seen that immigration policy is not being followed? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 Yes I have read the anonymous letter tabled in the House yesterday which is not evidence as the member characterises it; rather it is a series of anonymous allegations that are being looked into seriously. As the member knows I also saw the Oughton report after it was released publicly and it raised wider issues. That is why after I saw it I went to the Minister of State Services and asked for the State Services Commission to widen its inquiries. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How much evidence do we need of serious problems within the Immigration Service when an unnamed immigration officer has made such damning claims the Public Service Association is aware of at least two other immigration officers who have said the same thing and a former senior official in the Manukau office has gone on record about pressure from senior management to process claims contrary to policy? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: That is as it should be and it is being addressed through a State Services Commission inquiry through an Auditor-General’s inquiry through a review of the Pacific branch and through a police inquiry. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Can the Minister confirm the claim made by a current immigration officer that managers send threatening emails to staff pressuring them to cut corners in order to meet higher work targets and can the Minister assure the House that his department will conduct an immediate thorough search of emails to investigate that allegation? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: No I cannot confirm that. I note that yesterday when Dr Smith tabled the letter in the House—and I have read the letter—he referred to the immigration officer as “he” which leads me to believe that perhaps Dr Smith has other information that he could provide to the Auditor-General to the police inquiry and to the State Services Commission and I invite him to do so. If he has other information in respect of emails or other sources I invite him to actually do the appropriate thing the honourable thing and his duty as a member of Parliament and provide those to the relevant authorities. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How can the public have confidence in the Immigration Service when an immigration officer claims that “numerous applicants who have presented blatantly false information or applicants from high risk countries … have all been issued with permits. These are people who should have been investigated declined and removed from New Zealand.”; and given that those actions cannot be taken by the Auditor-General what is the Minister going to do about it? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: I make two points to the member. I am advised that approximately 7 percent at least of temporary permits are declined each year and that is in contradiction to the anonymous claims that he promotes. And I take issue with his point in respect of the Auditor-General. My advice is that the Auditor-General can make any inquiries he so wishes—unfettered. It is normally appropriate to have an inquiry to establish the veracity of claims before one takes action—one does that once the veracity or otherwise of claims is established. That might be something that Dr Smith and the blunderbuss sitting beside him would like to reflect on. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Why is the Immigration Service processing some applications for temporary work permits and for permanent residence in New Zealand without asking the applicants for any supporting evidence whatsoever to prove who they are their qualifications and whether they have a job offer or even to show that they come from the country they claim to come from? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: That is not the advice I have. If the member has such advice and such information he should refer it to the appropriate authorities. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Madam Speaker I am going to seek leave to table a document. I wish to point out if you would allow me that the original of this document included a handwritten note. In the document that I am going to seek leave to table that note has been replaced by those words being retyped in order to protect the identity of the person—the immigration official—who wrote them. I seek leave to table a computer printout from the Immigration Service application management system computer record that confirms the approval of a work permit for someone for whom no supporting evidence at all was provided and in fact a residence application— 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.