Under new protocols, refugees would have had community support

12.00pm

Boatpeople rescued by the Norwegian freighter Tampa who were questioned by Australian police were left traumatised and should have been given community support, Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel said today.

The Immigration Service (NZIS) has been investigating after New Zealand police gave addresses for the refugees, rescued by the Tampa in 2001, to Australian police who then descended on the refugees unannounced.

The Immigration Service has said police did not follow "agreed rules" in the investigation into people smuggling.

New Zealand police documents obtained by the Christchurch Press revealed NZIS supplied the home addresses and phone numbers of the Tampa refugees to police early last year.

Ms Dalziel denied at the time that the service had helped the Australian federal police track down newly arrived refugees.

Yesterday she said an initial request for information from the Australian police was turned down, but the information was then given to New Zealand police who forwarded it to the Australians.

Up-to-date addresses were sourced from the Refugee and Migrant Service (RMS).

An Immigration spokesman yesterday told National Radio that in facilitating unannounced visits to refugees by Australian detectives, police had contravened conditions under which the NZIS had agreed to help.

These surprise visits gave refugees the impression they were compelled to give interviews and they were left feeling "harassed".

Ms Dalziel today told National Radio that the Australian police had been looking for potential witnesses in an Australian case against people smugglers.

She was sure the refugees would have been willing to help Australian police as they owed nothing to people smugglers who would have left them to drown.

The refugees were rescued by the Tampa as the boat they were on sank.

"Where the thing broke down was that there was no process in place to ensure that there was community support for a group of people, who were New Zealand residents and who were entitled to be asked ahead of time, pre-notified, that the Australian police wanted to talk to them," Ms Dalziel said.

"I think that if this thing had been handled differently, under new protocols which have now been arranged as a result of this matter between the Immigration Service and the police, we would have had a much more satisfactory situation."

What was wrong was that her agency had been brought into a situation where there should have been community support for a group of "pretty vulnerable" people who were "traumatised" by police knocking on their door with no prior warning, Ms Dalziel said.

National crime manager Detective Superintendent Rob Pope told National Radio a new agreement meant such people would now be notified before being interviewed by police.

"This was a relatively new situation for New Zealand, particularly the police. I should stress there was nothing improper in terms of the actual manner in which the people were spoken to, in terms of addressing their individual rights."

Interpreters were present at the interviews, which took place over six days, and the refugees had the right to speak to lawyers if they wished, he said.

It was made quite clear that they were witnesses.

Ms Dalziel today said the New Zealand and Australian police had been operating under mutual assistance arrangements which was perfectly acceptable.

A police spokeswoman told NZPA yesterday that a report written last year by Det Supt Pope, in response to a complaint by RMS, found police had acted within current procedures.

Ms Dalziel also today criticised the "very long time" it took police to provide a report to the Immigration Service about the situation with the refuges.

Det Supt Pope said a request was made in March 2002 for a report which was given to the general manager of the Immigration Service in October that year.

Police accepted it took "a little bit longer than would have been desired" but it was one of a number of requests made in relation to this matter which took a considerable amount of inquiry work to draw out the main issues, he said.

Ms Dalziel today told reporters that she had not been briefed by the Immigration Service before the addresses were given to police.

She had been told about what was an operational matter between agencies while she was at a people smuggling conference in Bali.

Once she had been briefed and later discovered that there had been no community consultation before the interviews took place, she had asked her department to provide a full report.

The department had been unable to provide that until police passed on the information they had.

Ms Dalziel said she had answered honestly when asked previously whether the Immigration Service had given the information to Australian police.

She was not sure whether she had known at that stage that the information was being passed on by New Zealand police.

She had seen a letter from New Zealand Police to the chief operating officer of the Immigration Service seeking the addresses.

In that letter, it was clear the New Zealand police would be providing the information to the Australian police "but I haven't got a record of when I was advised that the New Zealand Police were the ones that were seeking the information and who ultimately passed it on to the (Australian) police," she said.

Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters there were now "proper protocols" for interviewing future refugees.

She had read the transcript of the interview with Mr Pope in which he said there had been interviews carried out with a different group of refugees in relation to people smuggling "and it was done appropriately".

It had been unacceptable for people, who had been accepted as refugees to New Zealand, to be interviewed without warning or proper support.

"So now proper protocols have been established."

- NZPA