Rt Hon Winston Peters
Shirley/St Albans Club
269 Hills Road
Christchurch
12.30pm
Monday 8 July 2002

Another Gravy Train Exposed
Rampant Bogus Asylum Claims
Minister Must Go

Thank you for joining with us today.

Last week we exposed a gravy train operating within the Treaty Industry.

The Crown Forestry Rental Trust’s own budget, released by New Zealand First last Thursday, shows that they are proposing to put over $16m into their own pockets this year whilst paying out around $2.5m to claimants.

For every dollar they receive to support Maori claimants they propose to pay out 13 cents, pay 80 cents to themselves for themselves, without mandate or excuse, and hold onto the rest as ‘reserves’.

They have been doing this for ten years. Why would they want it to end?

As you know New Zealand First is campaigning on three things.

We have promised to make our streets safer

To put an end to the Treaty industry

And to stop the flood of immigration.

Each time we have raised the issue of the number of immigrants, or questions about the processing of refugees, or considered the future make up of our society we have been

howled down in derisory terms by the captured media and by academics offering spurious argument.

We have been called strident, racist, and populist.

We have been accused of Maori bashing, of Asian bashing, of sensationalism.

Well, if you knew what was really going on you would be shouting from the rooftops too.

You probably suspect what is going on but quite probably find it unbelievable.

Well don’t take my word for it.

Today we will tell you what other reliable sources are saying.

You will find it enlightening.

You will be moved to action.

The Refugee Status Appeals Authority (RSAA) has stated that ‘genuine refugees and the system itself has become the victim of widespread abuse’.

Its chairman, Rodger Haines QC, claims that the entire system could be brought to its knees by the abuse of procedures.

The Chairman of the Refugee Appeals Authority is saying that the system is suffering from endemic abuse of procedures.

He’s not politicking. He is dealing with the impossible.

After an asylum seeker has had his application dealt with by the Immigration Service’s refugee status branch he is able to appeal the decision by reference to the RSAA.

This year the Authority has approved three, I repeat three, percent of the applications.

So what is the Chairman saying?

He is saying that his Authority cannot cope, that the entire system is being brought to its knees.

He says that it is being imperilled by the magnitude of abuse.

That it cannot make sound decisions because of a lack of co-operation of a significant number of claimants.

That there is widespread deceit and fraud.

Remember this is not Winston Peters saying these things; this comes from the Appeals Authority.

An Appeals Authority that heard 232 appeals by Thais in the last year – each one almost the same as the one before it. Some had been lodged FOUR times.

Same lawyer do you think?

When confronted with this sorry saga the Minister of Immigration last Thursday afternoon said she was ‘angry’.

She is angry! At herself?

On Radio New Zealand that very morning she said that the Government had ‘the balance about right’.

Does she not understand?

So the problem is that abusive claims are being lodged by the score.

Why?

Because we have a gravy train here that makes the nepotistic Crown Forestry Rental Trust look like a philanthropic society.

What we have is an industry which manufactures ‘spontaneous’ refugees for our south seas, soft touch paradise.

They are met at Auckland Airport by a lawyer who will then arrange for them to be schooled in making their refugee application, and who will use your money to represent them through the inevitable appeals process.

Some of these lawyers can earn over $200,000 p.a. in legal aid fees for refugee cases alone.

Figures released last month showed that a firm specialising in Maori issues picked up $1.6m in legal aid fees in 10 months. Top of the individual’s list receiving $335,000 p.a. with 60% coming from refugee work and much of the rest from gang related cases, was Auckland lawyer Roger Chambers.

And you wonder why New Zealand First has identified Law and Order, the Treaty, and Immigration as the things we want to fix first?

Authorities admit that they are unable to establish the truth of asylum seekers’ claims and have to rely on their credibility.

And often this ‘credibility’ is schooled.

Take the example of a gentleman, originally from Afghanistan, but who long lived in Malaysia who said that he had been a member of the Afghan secret police. He told the Appeal Authority that he had been arrested when the Mujahideen took control.

It was reported several weeks ago (25 May) that during his seven months in captivity he was hung upside down, punched in the mouth, and beaten with a cable.

He convinced the Appeal Authority.

Compare that with this story from 1999 (December 4).

This is about a Sikh asylum seeker who said he left his homeland after being repeatedly tortured and finally shot and left for dead by Indian police.

He claimed they tortured him, tying his arms, hanging him up, beating him with heavy pieces of wood, and breaking his wrist.

You may draw your own conclusions.

We’re a welcoming lot all right.

And none more so than the lawyers and agents who are smiling all the way to the bank.

And our present Minister of Immigration is either incompetent or is walking around with her eyes and ears shut.

So, when New Zealand First raises these issues we are accused of scare mongering, of fabrication, of politicking.

Immigration - NOT an election issue?

Who says?

TV3 the other night ran a leaders’ debate. Education. (yes very important), The Treaty (ditto) and Coalitions ( what!) were the topics of debate.

And that latter debate got down to Labour and the Greens on GE.

Let us put that media beat up into perspective.

No one is releasing GE organisms this year. We have a moratorium - a moratorium buys time.

If that time is used wisely an informed decision can be made to lift or extend the moratorium.

Is that not right?

So this is not the time for a decision – this is just an election stunt.

The Greens are using our fear of the unknown to raise their profile and buy votes.

Rod will give his last pair of braces to be in Government.

But these same people who have this fear of a decision yet to be made about a technology most of us know little about, this party, the Greens, want to open our borders to all these ‘spontaneous asylum seekers’.

So while we fret about keeping GE locked in our labs we are happily introducing TB, HIV/ Aids, Dengue and Yellow Fever, Hepatitis, Alimentary and Urinary Infections and Malaria.

Not my words but the words of the Refugees Community Liaison.

Well, of course, we are a ‘soft touch’.

The headline in the ‘ASIANZ BUSINESS CHRONICLE’ last month was:

“Kiwi soft touch attracts potential Indian migrants”.

Venkat Raman goes on to write “New Zealand has emerged as the most favourite destination for potential migrants in India…..The perception of immigration consultants in India is that New Zealand has far less stringent criteria for people desirous of emigrating than Canada or Australia.”

Not to worry, whilst ‘angry’ our Minister is happy that she has ‘the balance almost right.’

Yeah right!

FACT: More than half our refugees are infected with TB on arrival

FACT: 15% of our HIV cases are from African refugees

FACT: We have a moratorium in place on the release of GE

What worries you the most?

What are our priorities?

The High Court recently ruled that the detention of asylum seekers is unlawful. Well, if detaining gatecrashing asylum seekers is unlawful then the law is an ass.
Most of these people were brought here by Helen Clark because of her need to strut the international stage. Now New Zealanders are likely to have to fork out big money to help them get set up for life.
The law may be an ass but the responsibility lies with the Prime Minister and her Cabinet colleagues. It was their stupidity that led to the decision to take over 140 'so called refugees' off the Tampa last year. Were they genuine refugees? And who would be an appropriate authority to determine that?
"The Bulletin" (Queensland) of Tuesday April 9 2002 carried a full front page on the Tampa refugees under the title 'Impostors'. How do we explain to Mr. and Mrs. Bloggs that their taxes are going to be paid to impostors who immediately access welfare and medical benefits, while they are left to struggle to pay for the health and education of their kids?
Auckland’s Refugee Hostel can’t feed the asylum seekers that have turned up as a result of being released from the Mangere detention centre because they haven’t got enough beds.
These people have no entry or work permits so they can’t earn a living.
You paid for them to come; you are paying for them to stay.
So, why isn’t anyone telling you these things?
Why this conspiracy of silence?
If we are going to claim back our country we are going to have to take matters into our own hands.
If we are going to put an end to this gravy train, to this trade in human flesh, then you are going to have to get on the talk back shows and yell blue murder.
You will just have to impress them with the weight of your concern.
You don’t have to believe me.
Believe these stories:
Two Nigerians, claiming to be Zimbabweans, have just been deported after failing to get $45,000 compensation for ‘unlawful detention’. They were unlucky. We didn’t buy their ‘we can’t go home story’……this time.
Mt Roskill police have instituted an education programme as they try to crack down on burgeoning crime. It seems these people have a literacy problem. Why did we import them? The schools in the area are bursting at the seams and we wonder why we are having problems in our education system.
You have had a chap in jail down here in Christchurch who we think might be Sean Wu.
He remained in jail because he wouldn’t tell anyone who he really was.
Nobody knows how he got here but he has been arranging sham weddings.
How many Sean Wus are there?
How many people are coming into New Zealand with false passports?
How many have multiple identities and receive several benefits?
We know of some with bogus qualifications who get appointed to top jobs.
Our schools, our hospitals, and our public service have all been taken in.
And we pretend we don’t have a problem!
It remains politically incorrect to raise these issues.
Well, folks, it is time to rattle a few cages.
Because these scams are giving all refugees a bad name.
They are swept under the table to avoid accusations of racism.
They are changing the face of New Zealand
Forever.
This is Asianisation by stealth.
And it is being condoned at the highest level.
Did former Ministers Delamere, Maxwell, and Malcolm discover that the Immigration Service was run down and incompetent? Did they realise that the reputation New Zealand has earned as an international soft touch provides them with their business opportunities?
And the current Minister, what is she doing?
Nothing!
She is in denial!
Well Ms Dalziel, for your information, New Zealand is recognised as the favourite destination for potential migrants in India even though there is a lack of potential employment opportunities. Why….because it is easy. Because we are a soft touch.
The Minister meanwhile tells us that we are bringing in skilled immigrants, that we focus on the business category.
She claims to have introduced “ government policies that have driven huge skilled/business migration to New Zealand – making up 66% of the 2001/02 immigration programme.”

The facts are that almost one third of the applications for residence is in the ‘family’ category. That is, someone piggybacking in on another family member already here.

When you consider the number of suspect marriages that subsequently open the doors to other family members then the whole thing is a joke.

Ms Dalziel provided the facts herself in an answer to one of my Parliamentary Questions asked before we knew about any election (28 May 2002).

According to her information less than 6% of residence applications in the year ended 30 April 2002 were in the ‘business’ category. The bulk in the ‘general skills’ category lead to the startling statistic that 68% of our immigrants are not engaged in our economy.

In the current year the top ten countries providing the bulk of the expected 53,000 plus new residents are:

Taiwan over 1,000
Fiji over 2,500
South Korea over 2,000
Samoa over 1,500
India over 6,000
Malaysia around 1,500
The Philippines over 1,000
China over 7,000

And South Africa over 3,500 and Britain around 5,500.

Something is happening to the demography of our country.

But is it happening with our full knowledge and understanding?

Who asked you whether you wanted to Asianise New Zealand …..by a Napier or Nelson each year?

Are we aware of all of the consequences?

Over 95% of the business investor category of immigrants are Asian –but in many cases the business they are buying into is places in our schools for their kids. We can understand that, but is it what we want. Have you been asked?

Do you mind if your kid has to go to another school as a result?

The development of a population policy ought to be based on conscious decisions about the skills we need to import, about where we can sustain population growth, about the place in the scheme of things of earlier immigrants and about our culture and values.

We need to consider natural increase and other population trends.

We need to examine the arguments put up by some members of the business community who may have an interest in keeping real wages down.

We need to examine the arguments of those who say that a flood of immigrants is the only way we can grow our economy and change the demographics, and meet (for example) future superannuation costs…..the PMs bleating excuse last week.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the way to a better future lies in growing our economy through growing our exports.

Such growth is dependent upon the skills of our workforce and therefore on our education system.

Our education system is wallowing under the pressure of language classes.

In Australia some of the language schools have been closed down because of people smuggling.

Is it happening here?

We’d never know.

And if we knew we wouldn’t talk about it.

Importing people who do not subsequently engage in our economy does not lead to greater exports of goods and services.

What it leads to is the export of our homegrown young talent who go elsewhere for better pay and conditions. Almost 7 out of every 10 migrants are NOT engaged in our economy as wage, salary, or business contributors.

Of course, we can continue to act in an ad hoc manner and let the future take care of itself.

Both National and Labour have been ostrich-like in their devotion to the latter course.

Even worse, they don’t won’t to talk about it. But we are all going to have to face up to it.

Can we fix it? Yes we can!

You can start by using your telephones and talk back radio and let New Zealanders know what is happening to their country.
And you can help by giving Winston Peters and New Zealand First your party vote. ENDS

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