Tiler's case angers refugee group

Refugee groups and lawyers are divided over whether Thai overstayer Sunan Siriwan should be granted a permit to return to New Zealand from Samoa, where he has been tiling a new house for Associate Justice Minister Taito Phillip Field.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has asked Auckland Queen's Counsel Noel Ingram to report by October 4 on whether Mr Field had a conflict of interest when he asked Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor to direct officials to grant a work permit to Mr Siriwan.

Mr O'Connor told officials to allow Mr Siriwan and his partner, Aumporn Phanngarm ("Luck"), to apply for work permits subject to health and police checks.

Mr Siriwan has been living in buildings belonging to Mr Field and his family in Samoa since he left New Zealand in March. The Field family paid for Ms Phanngarm and the couple's two-year-old son, Henry, to fly from Thailand to join Mr Siriwan in Samoa several months ago.

Both Mr Siriwan and Ms Phanngarm had applied for refugee status in New Zealand and stayed on illegally after their applications were rejected.

Auckland Refugee Council manager Elizabeth Walker said it was surprising that Mr O'Connor had intervened to help Mr Siriwan when many genuine refugees were knocked back.

She said she felt for people in fear for their lives who went to the minister on bended knee, only to almost always be turned down.

"I feel annoyed that asylum seekers are treated as illegal, yet someone who is blatantly not a refugee has been accepted."

But former Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere said that on the facts he had seen, there was a strong possibility he would have approved Mr Siriwan's application.

"I would just ask: if I let him into New Zealand, will it benefit New Zealand?" he said.

"If he's a skilled tiler, and that's provable, then I think that is a strong point in favour of Damien [O'Connor] giving him approval as an exception."

Another former MP, Matt Robson, said some aspects of the Siriwan case would "raise eyebrows", but Mr O'Connor was entitled to exercise discretion.

"The skills thing changes from one day to the other and what employers are crying out for is often ahead of the official list," he said.

"Of the cases I have taken to the minister, a reasonable proportion over the years have been approved with all parties from Max Bradford onwards, because I weed out the ones that are not meritorious in any way, and ministers know that."

Lawyer Simon Laurent said the law gave the minister unfettered discretion to take account of special circumstances that could not be envisaged when the law was drafted.

"I've had one or two cases where I've told the clients I didn't think they had a show and they got through, and there are others where you think it's a dead cert and it's refused," he said.

"If you start laying down criteria you are cutting down the discretion and that is a fundamental limitation on the administrative law principle that operates here."

Meanwhile, Dr Ingram spent Thursday and Friday in court on work that he had begun before being handed the Siriwan case.

Gareth Kayes, who has been appointed instructing solicitor, said Dr Ingram was still negotiating terms of reference.

"I understand he's having further discussions on Monday."

A spokeswoman for Helen Clark said the Government "will be looking for some guidance by the middle of [next week] but clearly a quality report is the top priority, no matter how long that takes".

The tiler's tale

* Associate Justice Minister Taito Phillip Field asked Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor to direct officials to grant a work permit to Thai overstayer Sunan Siriwan.

* A few weeks later, Mr Siriwan went to Samoa, where he worked on a house being built for Mr Field.

* The Field family paid 5400 tala ($2900) to bring Mr Siriwan's deported partner and son from Thailand to Samoa while they waited to hear about an application for a work permit to return to New Zealand.

* An Auckland QC has until next Tuesday to report on whether Mr Field had a conflict of interest.