Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:617;Page:12974] 
10.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: How many overstayers were in New Zealand as at 30 April 2004 and of those which five nationalities in descending order were the most highly represented? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 As at November 2003 which was the last time this estimate was made the total number of overstayers in New Zealand was estimated at around 20000. That is just an estimate. In descending order the top five nationalities are Samoa Tonga China Thailand and Great Britain. However measuring the number of overstayers against the total number of temporary arrivals by nationality over a given period gives a more accurate picture. By this measure the top five nationalities in descending order are Tuvalu Samoa Tonga India and Fiji. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why is this House putting up with a bogus estimate when in fact his predecessor followed the same methodology of doing a survey of 800 suspected overstayers and arrived at a figure from those results; and after all this time does he not think it would be responsible of the Government to give the House an honest answer as to the absolute and total number based on computerised figures then to tell us in proportion of numbers which of the various ethnic groups make up the greatest proportion of the top five population overstaying groups; surely in 2004 we can expect something more respectful than what we had way back in 2001 when Smith of his department was saying that it was done on a calculation of 800 people by way of poll and survey? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I agree with the member that the information is not satisfactory. That is one of the reasons I am reviewing the Act. I am keen to get much more accurate information and to be able to take much more determined action to make sure that people who are unlawfully here are sent home. 
Dianne Yates 
: What is the Government doing to reduce the number of people who are unlawfully in New Zealand? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I have previously indicated that a range of issues relating to the temporary entry system will be reviewed. For example I will be looking at ways to improve interagency cooperation in order to identify more quickly people who are here unlawfully. I am also looking at ways to make the removal process more robust. 
Hon Matt Robson 
: Can the Minister advise where Hungarians rate on the list of overstayers? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: No I cannot but they certainly do not feature in the top five. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Are the Minister and his colleagues totally ashamed that New Zealand proportionally even on his totally specious example has 76 percent more overstayers per 1 million residents compared with Australia; can this difference simply be explained by Australia’s ability to promptly identify by computer those who did not leave by the required date and why is he not able to carry out this simple method in New Zealand and when will he start firing somebody to ensure that he gets some responsible performance? With the greatest respect it is no laughing matter. I have asked this question for years and I now find out—[ 
Interruption 
] 
I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. When I see a Minister and his colleagues laughing about this matter although they claim that we have 20000 overstayers and admit that they do not know what they are talking about—the Minister just admitted that before—surely we can expect a bit more from the Government in respect of question time so that someone turn ups in this Chamber and responsibly answers the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has asked a question. Of course the Minister has to answer it responsibly. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I think it is fair to say that members are not happy but not ashamed. If I went around firing people the Minister of Labour would have something to say about that. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table an article from the  
Dominion  
of 5 May 2001 that sets out the totally specious way in which this Government is conducting its investigation into overstayers compared with Australia. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.