New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

Questions for Oral Answer [4416]

Overstayer-Refugee Status and Work Permit Refusal

5.

Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH( National-Rodney)

to the Minister of Immigration: Can he confirm that Thai overstayer, Mr Sunan Siriwan, was not only declined refugee status on 19 February 2002 but was declined a work permit by the Associate Minister's office on 21 October 2004 and again on 15 March 2005; if so, why?

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE( Minister of Immigration):

Yes, I can confirm that Mr Sunan Siriwan was declined refugee status on 19 February 2002 and was declined a work permit by the Associate Minister on 21 October 2004 and on 15 March 2005, as the Associate Minister declined to intervene in both instances.

Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith

: Is it correct that Mary Anne Thompson, the Department of Labour workforce deputy secretary, told the Ingram inquiry that had the application by Mr Siriwan for a work visa been made, not to the Associate Minister but to the New Zealand Immigration Service, the application would have been unsuccessful; if so, why would it have been unsuccessful?

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE

: I cannot confirm what was in the minds of particular officials at particular times, but I can confirm that ministerial discretion exists on the basis of statute, precisely because every case differs and Ministers are entitled to rely upon the information that is put before them.

Dianne Yates

: Could the Minister please explain the basis for ministerial discretion in difficult immigration cases?

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE

: Ministerial discretion exists-

Hon Dr Nick Smith

: What was difficult about this case?

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE

: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. These are sensitive matters and I think it would assist the House if answers could be given.

Madam SPEAKER

: Order, please. Everyone wishes to hear what the members have to say, both in questions and in answers.

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE

: Ministerial discretion exists because not all circumstances can be foreseen when policy is written. Members on all sides of the House accept this when they put forward representations for the exercise of ministerial discretion. For example, I note that the member for North Shore and the member for Pakuranga, by their own admission, have both made significant numbers of such representations to the Associate Minister.

Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith

: What persuaded the Minister to change his mind to issue a special direction for work visas for Mr Siriwan and Ms Phanngarm after his two meetings with Taito Phillip Field in March and May 2005 when his department was advising so strongly against it?

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE

: It is my understanding, based on the information I have seen, that the then Associate Minister took into account a range of factors including the presence of a child who was a New Zealand citizen, a relative shortage in the labour market, and a number of other factors. What is important is that Mr Ingram QC concludes in paragraph 179: I consider that the decision by Mr O'Connor may be regarded as a justifiable exercise of that broad discretionary statutory power.

Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith

: Does he still claim that the New Zealand Immigration Service, in providing the Minister with information to assist his decision on whether to issue a special direction for a work visa for Mr Siriwan on 16 June 2005, failed to mention to the Minister that it was aware Mr Siriwan was working on a house owned by Taito Phillip Field in Samoa; and if so, how does he explain that failure by his department?