12. Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Has she received the report of Dr Noel Ingram QC into allegations of conflict of interest involving Taito Phillip Field; if not, when does she expect to receive it?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) Link to this
No, but as I have told the member many times, I expect to receive the report when it is finished.
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith Link to this
Has it been standard practice in her administration for a person such as an overstayer, who needs a document to provide that he or she would not be removed from New Zealand while a permit or visa application is being considered, to be charged a fee; if so, what has been the normal size of that fee?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I have no advice on that matter. I suggest the member put that question down for the Minister of Immigration.
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith Link to this
If her administration has not been charging a fee for the provision of such documents that purportedly protect an overstayer from removal, pending consideration of a permit or visa application, would a person alleging that he or she had to pay such a fee cause her concern as to the possibility of a corrupt practice?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
The only fees properly payable in New Zealand for consideration of an immigration application are those charged by the Immigration Service itself. If the member has other matters he wishes to lay before the Government, I suggest he raises a question directly with the Minister.
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith Link to this
What explanation does the Prime Minister have, therefore, for a person alleging that in order to obtain such a document from her administration through the electorate office of Taito Phillip Field, $2,000 in cash had to be paid to a family friend of Taito Phillip Field?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I have no knowledge of such an accusation. If the member wanted to make that allegation, he should have properly made it to Mr Ingram, and whoever has made the allegation to the member should have properly made it to Mr Ingram. I have received no advice about it.
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith Link to this
Is the Prime Minister prepared to provide immunity to people, to encourage them to feel able to tell her inquiry exactly whom they have had to pay cash to, with neither invoice nor receipt, in order to obtain certain documents from her administration?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
Any person who wants to make such an allegation and lay such a complaint should immediately take it to the police. I want to say for the record that, of course, if that person goes to the police he or she will have immunity. No corruption is tolerated by this Government—Dr Smith might have tolerated it but we do not.
Hon Bill EnglishI raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. It is a breach of the Standing Orders to allege corruption with respect to another member, as the Prime Minister did just now.
Madam SPEAKERThe Prime Minister said Dr Smith may have put up with corruption but she did not. That is a very serious allegation to make in this House and it should be withdrawn.
If the member—[ Interruption] Would the member who is sitting to my immediate left please be quiet. Would both members please be seated; I am on my feet now, so I am making it clear. Please be seated. My understanding is that if the member took offence at the allegation, he should raise the matter and ask the Prime Minister to withdraw and apologise. He has not done that.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. My point of order is that you have just had a complaint from Mr English about an issue of corruption, yet the question, which is along the same lines as one last week, was to do with corruption. Today, even though question time is finished and the question is over, that member of Parliament—an experienced one—has still not produced one shred of evidence against another member of Parliament. He gets up and asks questions that have in them very serious allegations. He makes them up by innuendo and inference, and he is still not prepared to produce one shred of evidence to back up what he is saying—the very complaint Mr English made.