There appears to beobjection.Immigration Service--Immigration Fraud 6.Rt Hon

Dr BernieOgilvy: What steps, if any, has the Minister taken to ensurethat all pre-school children, 3 years Rosetta Stone outlet of age and over, canaccess up to 15 hours per week of pre-school education? Hon. TREVOR MALLARD: There are considerable steps in thatdirection, especially with regard to the provision ofbuildings and the training of staff. But it is a major task,because, for example, we still have about one-third ofPacific Island kids and about one-quarter of Mx17D,ori kids whoget no pre-school education, so the numbers involved willtake a number of years to get to what I think both of usknow is a good objective. Deborah Coddington: I seekleave to table a media release from the Early ChildhoodCouncil stating that when we asked the Minister for leave toapply for equity funding, we were told that we could notapply for it because we were interested only in makingmoney. Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought for that purpose. Isthere any objection? There appears to beobjection.Immigration Service--Immigration Fraud 6.Rt Hon. WINSTON PETERS (Leader--NZ First) to the Minister ofImmigration: What action has she taken to ensure the NewZealand Immigration Service has the tools to effectivelyrespond to immigration fraud in the light of the commentscontained in the 2002 Briefing to the Minister that``Managing fraud is a major issue.'' for the ImmigrationService? Hon. LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Immigration):I have undertaken a number of actions. For example,requiring job offers to be relevant to qualifications andexperience to attract premium points, and also placinglimitations on the spouse category to reduce the potentialfor fraudulent applications in that category. Rt Hon.Winston Peters: If all that is true, will the Ministerpromise that an informant--who by way of a letter dated 2March 2002 to the investigation unit of the ImmigrationService alleging serious immigration frauds in detail, aswell as the name of the alleged fraudsters and immigrationconsultants involved--will now, on this day at least,receive the courtesy of a response, and a belated properindependent inquiry, given that her officials failed toinquire after 2 March in the first place, and why would aresponse not be given to such an informant? Hon. LIANNEDALZIEL: As the member knows, the Privacy Act prevents anyservice that receives information from anyone from feedingback that information about individuals without theirindividual consent. Steve Chadwick: What has theMinister done in respect to benefit fraud and the rate ofemergency Rosetta Stone German unemployment benefit uptake amongst recentmigrants who do not qualify for benefits? Hon. LIANNEDALZIEL: Since 1 October last year, sponsors now have tosign a statutory declaration committing to meet any suchcosts of family members sponsored into this country. This isalready showing a reduced uptake in the emergencyunemployment benefit. I am surprised that the Governmentelected in 1996 did nothing to address this matter. John Carter: Will the Minister guarantee to provide theresources necessary to combat immigration fraud, as outlinedin the briefing papers, if so, in which year? Hon.LIANNE DALZIEL: We have already announced measures in thisyear's Budget--an additional $8 million--in order to reduceNew Zealand's exposure to fraud in the immigration area. Hon. Richard Prebble: Is it not correct that managing fraudis a major issue for successive Governments, not just inimmigration but also in other areas like social welfare andaccident compensation, and in voluntary agencies such as theone represented by Wayne Peters, which was defended sostrongly this morning, if so, how does her Government'srecord compare with the tools used by New Zealand First whenit had an opportunity to fix this problem? Hon. LIANNEDALZIEL: I am actually glad that the member asked thatquestion, because one of the issues that New Zealand wasexposed to is what is known as the Bangladeshi series offraud cases. The decline rate in Bangladesh is actuallyrunning at 71 percent, which indicates a high level offraud, but indicates that this Government has got on top ofwhat was a significant problem. Thank you for thequestion. Metiria Turei: To what extent is the fraudone of migrants misrepresenting their skills, and to whatextent is it migrants misrepresenting the assets they aretransferring to New Zealand? Hon. LIANNE DALZIEL: Thereare a number of opportunities within, particularly, thegeneral skills category and the family sponsored categoryfor people to misrepresent the nature of either their skillsand experience, their qualifications, as was the case withthe Bangladeshi audit, and the situation with the familyrelationship. We are exposed from time to time to people whoenter into contracts--when they are not genuine marriages,for example. Judy Turner: What action has the Rosetta Stone Greek Ministertaken to ensure that the New Zealand Immigration Service hasthe tools to effectively respond to the migrant community'sdistinct unease brought about by the recent attack by NewZealand First members on the value of the migrantcommunity? Mr SPEAKER: The first part of the questionis in order, the second part is not.