Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): If there's any measure of how quickly out of touch this Government has become with the mood of the people of New Zealand it was in the opening comments of both Mr Nash and Ms Radhakrishnan who indicated that because the National Party benches weren't cheering and baying behind their deputy leader somehow we're all morose and sad. We were listening carefully to one of the most important issues facing this Government and this Parliament in the last year and colleagues were taking it extremely seriously. And so they should because 10 days into the publicity over the Minister's decisions around Karel Sroubek the extraordinary revelations just keep coming and so does the butt-covering and the throwing of officials under the bus.Let's just start with those revelations and the Minister's reaction. Last Tuesday he told the House that he had carefully reconsidered the file and that he stood by that decision. But less than 24 hours later he claimed that new information existed that appeared to directly contradict the information which he relied upon to keep this thug in the country. By Thursday an investigation had been announced and that was it. The shutters are up. No questions are being asked. And ever since that no comments no explanations; just actually a thinly veiled attack on Immigration New Zealand officials—people who I know extremely well and have worked with very closely for around five years. The code from the PM: read between the lines. Well this open and transparent Government wasn't going to ask the public to read between the lines; they were going to give the public the lines. They were going to be more upfront and more honest with them. These are stories of criminal records of witness protection of intimidation and of the denying of parole.The Minister actually gives us the impression that this was somehow a difficult decision and that had he had this new information he might have made a different decision. Remember this is information that is actually coming mostly from the National Party—a National Party that did some basic research: fundamental due diligence. I'm going to be really interested about when actually this file is finally revealed. Because of the terrible things that have been said about public officials it is absolutely necessary that at some point that happens because I know that the information that the Minister is now inferring is new information would have absolutely been put before him in the initial situation when he made his decision.The PM in Dunedin on Saturday again threw officials under a bus. She was asked: does she back the Minister? The answer: yes. Does she have confidence in Immigration New Zealand? The answer: let's wait and see what the report has to say.The investigation itself suggests some kind of degree of independence but let's remind ourselves what's actually happening here. The Minister is investigating his own decision. He's actually going back and asking for some kind of apparent third-party examination of a decision that he made. In order for that to be transparent he needs to show this House and the public what information he relied on when he made his first decision and what information now exists that was either put before him or should have been asked by him in that straightforward examination of what I believe is a straightforward case.I have seen a number of these cases. I have seen some pretty amazing submissions in support of what I call a Hail Mary request to stay. A lot of it is relevant but not determinative. I don't actually care if Mr Sroubek has found God and been nominated for a Nobel Prize. He has committed serious offences and in this country the right of residence and citizenship is a privilege that we should hold dear. The price of entry into this country and the price of being able to stay in this country has gone down has been cheapened by this decision. Other members are going to talk about how hard it is to gain that prize that privilege and it's been cheapened by this Government.