Menéndez March Ricardo; Little AndrewRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): Thank you I'd like to turn my attention to the issue of an amnesty for overstayers which the chair of the Education and Workforce Committee talked about. The previous Minister of Immigration when we were quizzing him about this talked about having news soon. So I wanted to ask: when are we expecting news around whether the Government will do an amnesty for overstayers? Is the Minister expecting to announce something before the election? And if the Government is actively considering an amnesty for overstayers whether any consideration has been given to pausing deportations of overstayers who do not pose a risk to public safety or a national security risk? Otherwise we risk announcing an amnesty with a whole cohort of overstayers who then would have been deported with no ability to access it. So I'm hoping for some answers into when we are expecting news whether it's before the election and then any other considerations that have been given.On the issue of exploitation I wanted to ask about the Minister's confidence around increasing the numbers of completed investigations for migrant exploitation. We've seen a huge number of increase and yet over the years the completed number of investigations per year has actually stayed the same meaning that actually as a proportion of the cases that are now being reported we're having less and less investigations being completed. So what confidence can the Minister give migrants and members of the public that there will be greater capacity to complete investigations of migrant exploitation?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Immigration): Thank you Mr Chairman and thank you to that member for those questions. Firstly on the point about an amnesty for overstayers—I note that member and his party have raised that—I can say that it is a question that is under active consideration by the Government. I can also say it's highly unlikely that there will be a decision or any action before the election. I do just want to make this point about amnesties—and the reason why there is a very careful balancing exercise required is that thousands of people come to New Zealand every year under the immigration system that we've got they come under the rules that we've got and they adhere to those rules. There are some who come here they come under the system and for a range of reasons often quite innocent they find themselves outside of those rules. We have to make sure that the system that we've got and the system rules that we've got have integrity. The reason for that is that we are a small country and the reality is that we cannot absorb everybody who would like to come here and stay here. So we have to have a set of rules we have to manage it and we have to make sure everybody adheres to those rules. So when we think about an amnesty we have to think about the signal that we're giving to people if they think Oh gee this is a Government that just routinely gives amnesties; if we stick around long enough we'll be OK." So we take some time and consider very carefully issues of immigration amnesties for those who find themselves irregular or irregularised because of either the passage of time or the expiry of their visa and the fact that they haven't sorted that out or as in some cases too particularly if they're children of those who have come here under visas originally visas have expired the family is still here and that person who was a child at the time they came here they've done nothing wrong they've lived their life they've relied on their parents and caregivers to comply with the rules but haven't necessarily done so. So we have to think carefully about all those sorts of things. We don't like the fact that there are some in this situation where they have the sword of Damocles hanging over them there's uncertainty about their immigration status and we think very carefully about that.In relation to the threat of deportations I think I can assure the member that the advice I've had from immigration officials is that they do think very carefully about enforcement in those circumstances and think very carefully about the justice of the particular case.So on the issue of an amnesty as I say it is under active consideration but don't expect anything before the general election.On the issue of exploitation and completed investigations I repeat—sorry the figure I gave before was post-accreditation checks—the number of completed investigations down to the end of the most recent financial year so 30 June 2023 was 145 completed immigration investigation on exploitation. That compares with 93 the previous financial year 71 the previous financial year and then much smaller numbers for the kind of two years of COVID. But those numbers are getting up. We now have about 300 people in Immigration New Zealand responsible for the checking and investigations so I'm confident that we have resourced that in a way that means that we can give it our best in terms of investigating migrant exploitation."