Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Smith Lockwood: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:631;Page:3549] 
10.  
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Which offshore immigration office granted Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali a student visa? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I am advised that the office concerned was Dubai and that the visa issued was in the surname of Ali which was the surname applied under by the person concerned. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Why does the Minister have confidence in the decision making of offshore offices given that as he has said Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was using his own passport with his own photograph and with only one further name added and was listed in the US  
9/11 Commission Report 
 as an associate of terrorists when he was granted that student visa by the Dubai office to study at an English language school in New Zealand although he spoke excellent English? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I have confidence in a multilayered security system that enabled us to identify Mr Ali locate him monitor him and return him swiftly to his country of residence. New Zealanders can have confidence in our security systems. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: How can the Minister have confidence in the decision making of offshore immigration offices when the office in South Korea granted a work permit to a man whose applications Immigration New Zealand in Auckland had twice declined saying he did not qualify in any way and would definitely not be getting a work permit? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: As I have said to the member in the past if he wishes to bring individual cases to the attention of the Government he is always welcome to provide that information and we will act appropriately upon it. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Which party was in Government—[ 
Interruption 
]; This is a sad one all right but there is much more—when Saudi Arabia the former country of residence of Rayed known as Rayed Mohammed Abdullah was made visa-free what was the year of that Government’s action and is there an “h” word that describes these questions? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I am able to confirm that Mr Ali was a long-term resident of Saudi Arabia and that it was the previous National Government that made Saudi Arabia visa-free. The date of that action was 1 July 1999 the then Minister was the Hon Tuariki Delamere and the then Prime Minister was the Rt Hon Jenny Shipley. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: What assurance can the Minister give that no other persons granted visas to be in New Zealand are security risks when in some Middle Eastern cultures—as we have already heard today—what we call a surname is not necessarily used and when our immigration screening procedures seem to depend so much on a surname and can so easily be thrown by the inclusion of a further possibly perfectly legitimate name? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: My confidence is based on the following data. In 2005-06 to the end of May 2005 people were removed or deported or voluntarily departed from New Zealand 611 people were stopped from boarding aircraft to New Zealand 1322 people were refused entry at the border 49 successful prosecutions for immigration fraud took place 78 prosecutions were still before the courts 22 people were declined a visa because they posed an unacceptable risk and this one got part-way through the process. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Why was someone deported without interrogation as to what he was up to when he had known links to the 9/11 terrorists had come to New Zealand on a student visa to study English although he spoke excellent English and was so keen to have further flying lessons that he approached no fewer than three different aero clubs; why was that person not interrogated as to what he was up to? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Quite obviously I am not at liberty to disclose the details of what questioning may have gone on with that individual as I am not at liberty to discuss other security-related operational details of that case. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Why then has the Prime Minister confirmed that Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was deported from New Zealand without interrogation when the Prime Minister herself stated publicly: “taking on a new surname and having flying lessons when he had enrolled to learn English showed a willingness to deceive”; why were greater efforts not made to find out the motives and the plans behind that calculated willingness to deceive in the interests of international security? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: While we are in the business of quoting the Prime Minister my personal favourite is the following: “I consider it a no-brainer that someone who has been a roommate of a 9/11 terrorist and who is having pilot training is here for no particularly good purpose.”