KEY POINTS:
Independent MP Taito Phillip Field will take his new seat in Parliament today after an extensive interview with police.
The Mangere MP - who resigned from Labour last week after the party moved to expel him - was interviewed at Counties Manukau police headquarters in Otahuhu on Monday
afternoon and again yesterday.
His lawyer, Simativa Perese, said Mr Field answered all the questions put to him and the interview was "good".
The interview was conducted by the head of the police investigation, Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess, and another detective who had been working on the case.
Mr Perese said it was temporarily called off on Monday because air conditioning in the police building went off and the room became very hot. It was agreed to continue the interview yesterday.
Police are investigating allegations that Mr Field accepted cheap labour from Thai migrants while offering them immigration assistance.
The inquiry is in its final stages, and police are expected to hand their information to Crown solicitors soon for evaluation before a decision is made on whether to lay charges.
Mr Field wanted to return to Parliament yesterday after six months' absence but was delayed by the interview.
He is likely to take his new seat in the debating chamber today, some distance from the senior Labour MPs he used to sit near.
Mr Field will also find his parliamentary office has moved from Labour's MPs in the high-rise Bowen House to the Old Parliament Building - which houses National and the Maori Party.
But although he will be physically some distance from his former party, his decision to give his proxy vote to Labour yesterday spurred Opposition parties to again hound Labour about the Mangere MP. National and Act cast doubt on whether Labour should be able to put Mr Field's vote if he is absent from Parliament.
They argued that to be able to give a proxy to any party, an MP had to be away on public business and that was not the reason for Mr Field's absence.
But Speaker Margaret Wilson said the arrangement was within the rules.
National leader John Key also questioned the morality of Prime Minister Helen Clark declaring Mr Field's actions unethical and immoral but then accepting his proxy vote.
That vote was cast in favour of Labour yesterday by its junior whip, Darren Hughes, as the Government easily survived a no-confidence motion moved by Mr Key. The count was 61-50, with the Greens and the Maori Party abstaining.
Helen Clark has previously dismissed questions about the acceptance of Mr Field's proxy vote by emphasising that any independent MP has a right to have a vote cast.
- additional reporting: NZPA
