there has been a commitment to being
I
I call the Hon Nick Smith. Madam Speaker, that
I call the Hon Nick Smith. Madam
from the Greens shows the level of the wrath, the level of
incompetence, the level of arrogance
that exists in the Coalition
Government over this schrubic
matter. Let's
matter. Let's start by giving context. Just a year
ago, parties opposite were
opposite were saying that New Zealand
Zealand needed to cut its immigration
Zealand needed to cut its
30,000 people in respect of the Labour Party and by the
New Zealand First party, by
Labour Party and by the New Zealand
they were going to be really tough on immigration. And let's be clear,
Madam Speaker
on immigration. And let's be clear,
grant someone residency of this country is a privilege, and it
is one of the most important
decisions that ministers and governments hold.
And our issue is the incompetence of
the
the Minister of Immigration that dismissed the very real danger
and the very integrity of our
immigration system in granting
New Zealand residency to Karel Sroubek.
Now, I have served this country for
a couple of years
as Immigration Minister. I have dealt with
hundreds of cases. I acknowledge
that ministers
ministers sometimes have difficult cases to weigh up. Humanitarian
considerations. Family
considerations. Family considerations. But I don't
think any member of this House
considerations. But I don't think
with even just a scant review of this file
with even just a scant review of
other than a very straightforward case. Madam Speaker, I see children
in the gallery. I think any child in
New Zealand could have
reflected very simply on this file and said,
file. This is a man that lied when he came into New Zealand in 2003.
This is a
he came into New Zealand in 2003. This is a man, in 2009, with Hells
Angels associates, was
arrested for kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
Does he sound the sort of nice
guy that we want to give the privilege
of being a New Zealander
And then in 2011, he is convicted for providing false information. So
the courts have decided that this
man is dishonest. And then in 2016,
Mr Sroubek is convicted for
importing 4.9kg of ecstasy. 4.9kg,
Madam Speaker, is a very
serious drug dealer. Did the
Minister give, for a moment, consideration
of the misery that that nearly 5kg of drugs
in the New Zealand market would have
caused to hundreds, and
potentially thousands, of
caused to hundreds, and potentially
Speaker, the courts considered it so serious that they sentenced him to
five years and nine months
of imprisonment. And that information
was known to the Minister. So I say
again,
was known to the Minister. So I say
sound like the sort of nice person that we would like to
grant New Zealand
that we would like to grant New
record, let's note that, before he left for New Zealand, he had
convictions in the
Czech Republic of which he had been sentenced for more
than four years of prison in that
country. So I say I am yet to hear
any explanation from the Minister
or for the Government as to what planet
Minister
for the Government as to what planet
he decided to grant this dishonest, this
he decided to grant this dishonest,
residency in our country. The only signal that that has
sent is that this is a Government that is soft on
crime, that is soft on drug
dealers, and is soft on maintaining the
integrity of
integrity of our immigration system. But it's worse than
that, Madam Speaker. Let's just remind ourselves
of the events that transpired. I
remember picking The
Sunday Star Times on 28 October and reading
this case. I actually immediately
got onto the phone to my colleague, Mark
Mitchell, and Michael Woodhouse, and
then on the Tuesday, when my colleague, Michael Woodhouse,
asked the question of the
Minister, the Minister said these
the question of the Minister, the
goodness. Thank goodness he's going to stand up in the House, state the
bleeding obvious, 'I made a mistake,
and I'm going to fix
bleeding obvious, 'I made a mistake,
this absolutely right. And so when he stands in the House this
afternoon in contrition, I'd say,
when he stood in this House and not only defended the decision,
but attacked my colleagues who dared
question whether, in fact, he
had exercised
question whether, in fact, he had
got worse than that, Madam Speaker. The part that I nearly choked
on my cornies was when I heard
Winston Peters on the radio
defending granted residency to a convicted
drug dealer who's locked up. Winston
Peters, for 30
years, has characterised his career on being Mr
Tough On Immigration. Well, if Mr
Tough On Immigration,
Winston Peters, thinks it's OK for convicted
drug dealers, dishonest drug
associates and gang members to
be granted residency, I know there will
number of New Zealand First supporters around this
country saying that the Deputy PM of
New Zealand has truly lost
the plot... And then we had PM Jacinda Ardern.
The line that I enjoyed from the PM
when this case blew
publicly was,
this House dropping their jaw at the decision. You had seen
media all over the country saying that
this decision was a doozy, but we have
the PM giving appalling political
judgement, as well as judgement for
New Zealand, in defending
this dumb and stupid decision from the
Minister of Immigration.
But here's the words from the PM that
But here's the words from the PM
no, parliament, you can't have the file. Read between the
no, parliament, you can't have the
the PM that has said this is going to be the most open,
transparent government ever. So when it's the
most open, transparent government
ever, why can't it answer, and
why has it not answered, even to this
day, the basic question as why,
in the good Lord's name did Minister
Iain
the good Lord's name did Minister
then we've seen the ducking and diving. The first ducking and diving
was attacking
diving. The first ducking and diving
dare they ask questions about why this drug dealer had been granted
New Zealand residence. Then
the next
Immigration officials under the bus. It's all their fault. But hang on
a moment, Madam Speaker. The Minister
had not even read the file that
was provided by the
New Zealand immigration service
immigration service and, secondly, the file made it
absolutely plain that this
the file made it absolutely plain that this was a bad person
that this House and this country would not
want a bar of. Madam Speaker,
I want to join with
colleagues and say that Iain
to join with colleagues and say that
reality is that him staying in the portfolio completely blows
New Zealanders' confidence in
our immigration system. All of us MPs
deal with hundreds of
cases of good people that want to come to
this country, and his management of this
file has completely not just
damaged his reputation, but the reputation
of the immigration service and
the reputation of this increasingly
incompetent Government. The
Hon Kris Faafoi. Madam Speaker, there
is just one comment that the Hon
Nick Smith made at the beginning of
his speech that I will agree with. And
that is
responsibility of the ministerial discretion for the Immigration
portfolio, you are tasked with some
very difficult decisions. This,
obviously, being one of them. That