MPs row over bogus refugees

By FRANCESCA MOLD

MPs indulged in an angry bout of fingerpointing yesterday over which political party was to blame for the policy of allowing people entering New Zealand to remain in the country by making a bogus claim for refugee status.

The row began at a select committee hearing yesterday with National and New Zealand First attacking Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel over a court case involving two Afghan men charged with fraud relating to a claim for refugee status.

The bickering between Ms Dalziel and NZ First leader Winston Peters prompted the committee chairman, United leader Peter Dunne, to warn the pair that sniping at each other was not helpful.

The two Afghan men, Obaidullah Rahemy and Wahidullah Rahemy, entered New Zealand on Dutch passports in March last year. They appeared in the Wellington High Court on Wednesday charged with supplying names knowing they were misleading and using a confirmation of claim to refugee status.

Mr Peters asked Ms Dalziel why the men were allowed to stay in the country for 18 months at the taxpayers' expense when their applications were clearly false. He said the two men should have been deported because there was no reason why people with Dutch citizenship would need to seek refugee status in New Zealand.

But Ms Dalziel said the Immigration Service was obligated to consider all refugee applications because it was a signatory to the United Nations convention on the status of refugees.

She said successive governments had allowed claimants to remain in New Zealand until their application was determined and any appeal heard. The same practice had been in place when Mr Peters was Deputy Prime Minister, she said.

Ms Dalziel said immigration officials prioritised the processing of claims which were seen to be manifestly unfounded.

The row spilled over into Parliament yesterday afternoon when Ms Dalziel faced further questions about the Government's immigration policy.

She pointed out that the National Party had included, in the appendix to the Immigration Act in 1999, a statement that no person claiming refugee status may be removed or deported from New Zealand unless the provisions of the UN convention allowed it. Her comment sparked a heated response from Mr Peters who accused the minister of "blaming everyone else for this loopy policy". Mr Peters said the UN resolution mentioned by Ms Dalziel was approved by the Labour Government in 1987 and merely carried forward by National.

Ms Dalziel said the number of people applying for refugee status in New Zealand was falling and fewer than 20 per cent of claims were accepted under the UN convention.

She said when Labour came into government in 1999 there was a backlog of 3000 claims waiting for first hearings. There were now fewer than 200.

The cost of processing the claims had also dropped from $30,000 per application to $12,500.

Ms Dalziel said the Government had changed its operational instructions to immigration staff since the September 11 attacks on New York.

Further reading
Feature: Immigration