Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:611;Page:8034] 
7.  
HELEN DUNCAN (NZ Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Immigration 
: Did she follow up on the claim that an asylum seeker had gone missing from an Auckland refugee hostel that there had been a cover-up by the New Zealand Immigration Service and the Refugee Council and that he had neither been found nor deported? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 Yes I did. The individual concerned had not gone missing from the hostel because he was not staying at it. Therefore there was no cover-up by the Immigration Service or the Refugee Council. The police advised the Immigration Service that the individual concerned was arrested on 14 April 2003 and remanded in custody. During the remand period he was served with a removal order which was executed after he was convicted. He was removed on 5 August 2003. 
Helen Duncan 
: What advice can the Minister give to someone who is aware of circumstances that raise concerns about an individual’s immigration status? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: People should write to me as Minister or to the New Zealand Immigration Service so that the facts can be ascertained. In this case the person who had these concerns could have been told that the individual had been removed from New Zealand some 9 days before the press release was issued that may have left Mr Peters to quote the  
Dominion Post 
 
with egg on his face. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: In view of the fact that the Immigration Service funds the refugee centre in west Auckland and that this man’s clothes were picked up by the police from that refugee centre what has the Minister done to stop a night supervisor and a group of Iranians from supplying illegal drugs to refugee occupants of that hostel? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I would just like to highlight to that member that he has not produced one single shred of evidence to support any claim he has made in respect of this case. This individual did have his clothes picked up by the police but he had not been staying there for several months and he was never detained at the hostel. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Yes he was. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: He was never detained at the hostel because he in fact claimed refugee status prior to the operational instruction of 19 September 2001 coming into effect. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Would the Minister be surprised to learn first that my informant comes from the centre for refugees at Henderson whence this person was domiciled for a short time and second that in addition to being supplied illegal drugs by a night supervisor and a group of Iranians the same degree of access to alcohol is also supplied by the same supervisor and group of Iranians; and what on earth are New Zealand’s taxpayers doing paying for this farce about which she apparently knows very little? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Given that the individual complainant has written to the member concerned and not one single shred of evidence that has been produced has actually been substantiated I would like to see some real evidence from that member before he wastes my time again. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is it true that the Minister told a reporter on 14 August that there were “lots of immigrants in New Zealand” who are legal immigrants—that there are lots of illegal immigrants in New Zealand—and how many are there that she is aware of? 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Lots of legal immigrants? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: That is what she said on 14 August when she was being a smart alec—and 20000 overstayers in this country illegally— 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: I didn’t say that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I want the question to be asked. The member does interpolate but other people do too and that is out of order. Please ask the question from the beginning. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I hesitate to hold things up but the member did actually ask in the first attempt at the question whether she had stated there were lots of “legal” immigrants. I am sure he meant to say “illegal”. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes the member did say that. I ask him now to restate his question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I said—and I will repeat it—this: is the Minister aware of her comments on 14 August to the effect that there were lots of illegal immigrants in New Zealand and is she also aware of the fact that there are about 20000 illegal overstayers; what on earth is she doing about it and how come she is not smiling any more? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: The reason I am not smiling is that I am utterly confused by the ridiculousness of a question that asks me to recall a comment that I do not recall ever making to the media on 14 August. On 14 August I told the media that Winston Peters had got it totally and completely wrong which is why the  
Dominion Post  
said he had egg on his face over the matter. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table a document dated 10 August by someone from the centre for refugees at Henderson whose name I cannot possibly divulge which outlines the facts that this Minister is so gaily denying again. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is not asking another question; he is asking to table a document? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Yes. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.