Smith Nick: Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Smith Nick: Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
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Hon Dr NICK SMITH (NZ National—Nelson) 
: What sort of a jackboot Government do we have when we have closure motions on a part with a despotic clause that says that officials can do no wrong? That is what we are expected to pass in this Parliament today—a sort of Roman-type provision that says Caesar can do— 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Caesar didn’t wear jackboots. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: He did not wear jackboots but he certainly would have said: “ I can do no wrong”. 
What we have in clause 5 is a provision to the effect that it does not matter whether the officials got it all wrong; it does not matter whether they failed; it does not matter whether they made mistakes because they are deemed to have been right. That is an extraordinary provision for Parliament to pass at any time let alone under urgency and with no select committee process. I want to know from the Minister how clause 5 matches up with her promise that Labour would allow for an open Government approach with proper consultative processes and the real involvement of members of Parliament. If that is not a contradiction I do not know what is. 
I come now to clause 6. This is the provision that expunges thousands and thousands of people’s applications. What sort of Mickey Mouse operation is the New Zealand Government running if it is just going to wipe out thousands and thousands of applications? I have this question for the Minister: according to her own notes why is it that 14669 applications lodged prior to 20 November 2002 have not yet been processed? That is 8 months ago. What sort of outfit is this Minister of Immigration running? [ 
Interruption 
] That is out of 20000 so it means that three-quarters of the applications lodged prior to 20 November last year have not been processed. Is that the sort of “efficient” Government department we would expect to have operating in this nation? It is an embarrassment and I want to know why. 
I also want to know from the Minister how many people are being ripped off by this provision. The papers say she does not know. We do not even know from the Government under urgency yet we are being asked to write off all of those people’s rights. We know it is something less than 14669 but no member opposite is able to tell this Committee just how many people are being done over by this provision. I ask Mr Benson-Pope and Mr Cosgrove why this Parliament should pass a law that will expunge people’s rights when we do not even know how many there are. How many of those people have acted in good faith? How many of those people would make good migrants for this country? How many of those people might want to have some right of appeal? We know none of that yet not one Government member has been prepared to get to their feet and defend the sort of jackboot legislation that is being passed under urgency by this Parliament. The bill is being passed through all stages yet it was introduced at only 4 o’clock yesterday. 
Again I put this to the Minister: this Government has been in office for 4 years. Government members have been defending the immigration policy for all that period. Yet suddenly—overnight—the penny drops and they have suddenly decided that the policy is all wrong and that under urgency they will change it. I see that the Associate Minister of Immigration Mr O’Connor has come into the Chamber. The Minister has not been able to answer the questions so I wonder whether that member is able to tell the Committee why he believes that Government officials should be deemed by law to have done everything right even when they have erred and made mistakes. Can some member opposite please explain why we should pass a provision that says that even when officials make mistakes they have got it right? I also want to know from someone opposite how many people are affected. This Parliament deserves to know.