Alexander Marc: Identity (Citizenship and Travel Documents) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Alexander Marc: Identity (Citizenship and Travel Documents) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:625;Page:20098] 
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
: 
 There is almost nothing in that last speech that I would agree with other than the silence after the member concluded and resumed his seat. I would like to say one thing and that is this: he talked an awful lot about the rights of this person and the rights of that person but never once did he talk about the responsibilities that go along with being a New Zealand citizen. Quite frankly that is exactly the point. What we have to do is go back to what matters most which is to appreciate what being a New Zealander is all about—to enjoy the privileges of being a New Zealander but to also be aware of the responsibilities attendant on that privilege. People who talk only about the rights are people who see rights as being something to be handed out like lollies to one and all without any sense of responsibility for what that actually means. I think that is an absolute farce and a joke. 
United Future will be supporting this legislation for a number of reasons. First up the amount of time applicants must spend in New Zealand before they can apply for citizenship has been increased from 3 years to 5 years. An applicant needs to be here for 1350 days of that 5 years which is approximately 75 percent of it. That requirement indicates the intent of anybody coming to live here that he or she wants to be here and wants to participate and be a productive member of our community. That is fair and right. 
The bill provides that time spent on temporary work permits or visitor permits will not be included in the 5-year period and that makes sense. A lot of people come here for holidays and short stints. We all do this overseas—the OE—and to think that that counts for a desire to be a part of that community is grossly mistaken. That time should not be taken into consideration and that is fair enough. 
In terms of assessing whether the applicant is of good character applicants with serious criminal convictions attracting 5-plus years’ imprisonment generally will not receive a grant of citizenship. Those with less serious convictions of less than 5 years’ imprisonment may be considered if the offence was committed more than 7 years ago and those who have not had a sentence of imprisonment may be considered if the offence was committed more than 3 years ago. Personally I would like to see the bill toughened up much further than that but I am happy to live with this provision because at least it opens up the possibility of being able to screen individuals who are coming to live here. I am of the opinion that any stint in a prison overseas is good enough for those people to have their arses slung out of New Zealand—we should not be allowing them in here at all. 
To aid the administration process the Citizenship Office will now have restricted access to immigration information in making its decision. The Minister may rescind the approval of an application if the applicant no longer meets requirements and generally applicants must take an oath at a public ceremony. Well why not? That is the least we ought to expect from people wanting to take up our citizenship. [ 
Interruption 
] It is patriotic. That is quite right. It is one thing to expect people to front up and say that they are now part of the community that they owe their allegiance to this country and that they forego their previous allegiance. That does not mean that they would have to give up their culture or give up all of the things they learnt from wherever they came but it does mean that they put New Zealand first because it is the home of their choice and we have decided to accept them. The fact that there is a political party by that name is a bit unfortunate but seeing that everybody knows it as “Winston First” it does not really matter. 
The Citizenship Act is amended to provide that a person will be presumed to be the father of a person if he was in a de facto relationship with the person’s mother at the time of conception. To be born here will no longer be sufficient in itself to gain citizenship. Some people have criticised that provision but it makes sense. Why the hell should anybody coming over here for a holiday with the specific intent of giving birth here be automatically granted citizenship? That makes no sense whatsoever. What vetting process do we have at present? In effect we say that people can come into our country drop a kid and all of a sudden have the automatic privilege of being a New Zealander. Quite frankly that is not good enough. People have taken advantage of that in the past and they will continue to do so in the future. We need to close that loophole. 
The key amendments to the Passports Act—I talked previously about the key amendments to the Citizenship Act—are fourfold. New Zealand travel document information can be disclosed to identify unauthorised passengers before they depart for New Zealand. That gives us a proactive capacity to do something about the characters who want to come to our country. I think that is right and proper. We should be vetting the people whom we invite to our homes. 
Passports will be valid for only 5 years reduced from 10 to prevent forgery. At first I was uncomfortable with that provision for a whole range of reasons. I thought that the cost would be too high and that it would be a real imposition particularly on our senior citizens who have the time to do the travelling and I thought about what other costs would be imposed on them. But having been privileged to see where passports are made I understand exactly what goes into making a passport forgery-free or at least what helps the passport makers to be ahead of the game because forgers across the world are very quick in their ability to emulate what we provide as our passport. We have to keep the integrity of the New Zealand passport otherwise it becomes worthless. I saw first-hand the technologies that were employed and I understand the need for this provision to be included in the bill. 
 So unfortunately and regrettably the cost will go up. But it is a cost worth bearing because our passports will end up becoming worthless if we do not. They will be a joke and will not be accepted in a lot of other countries in the world. 
The Minister can refuse to issue or can cancel New Zealand travel documents on the grounds of national security and the court can forbid the issue of a passport. I do not think that anybody in his or her rational mind could possibly disagree with that provision. It makes perfect sense that we have the capacity to say no if we have other information that basically states that we should not allow someone to have the privilege of becoming a New Zealander. 
Finally to formalise current practice provisions have been introduced to allow the issue renewal and cancellation of refugee travel documents. Those documents are different from passports certificates of identity or emergency travel documents and they facilitate a refugee’s international travel. Again that comes back to a fundamental point: New Zealand is our home and we have the right to restrict or invite whoever comes here— 
Keith Locke 
: For whatever reason. 
MARC ALEXANDER 
: —for whatever reason. That point is absolutely fundamental. We do not expect people from the rest of the world to be able to come here willy-nilly without our having the ability to make some assessment of whether we want them here. I think that this legislation goes a long way towards doing exactly that. 
United Future will be supporting this legislation. [ 
Interruption 
] Well as I understand it only the Greens are upset about this legislation because they would like to open the doors to everybody who might aspire to their beliefs. 
Craig McNair 
: Open up the floodgates. 
MARC ALEXANDER 
: We do not want to do that. 
We are a country of foreigners. We have all migrated here—whether we are Moriori Maori Pacific Islander or trace our lineage from Europe America or wherever. We have all come here from somewhere else. We need to protect the integrity of the New Zealand border. This bill will do that. United Future will happily support this legislation.