‘Total confusion’ on immigration

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 25

‘Total confusion’ on immigration

PA Wellington The Labour Party’s position on the Immigration Bill is one of total confusion, says the Minister of Immigration, Mr Malcolm. There is an urgent need for the Opposition clearly to state precisely what aspects of the proposed bill it opposes, he believes.

The Labour member of Parliament for St Albans, Mr D. F. Caygill, the party’s trade and industry spokesman, said that the bill could easily turn into an instrument of oppression if it was passed in its present form. A Labour government would review the whole act to ensure fair immigration procedures, Mr Caygill said. He described the bill as authoritarian and advised Mr Malcolm to “start again.” The bill, introduced in

Parliament late last year, is a complete rewrite of the immigration law and is aimed at closing loopholes which allowed thousands of people to stay in the country through legal technicalities. Mr Malcolm said that he was not aware the Labour Party had ever supported the bill. He asked if the party opposed the presence of an Immigration Act which provided for a fundamental right of the Government to issue permits and control the entry of nonNew Zealanders.

“Are they simply responding to public criticisms of the bill which have been based on misunderstandings and misinformation as to what the bill actually says?” he said. “Instead of working through a very difficult piece of legislation to

achieve a balance or rights as the Government is attempting to do, the Labour Opposition appears to have been panicked by the understandable, but unjustified, fears of an ethnic minority group in Auckland.”

The Government member for Pakuranga, Mr T. de V. Hunt, yesterday accused the Labour Party of a “blatant attempt” to buy votes by pandering to special ethnic groups at the expense of the majority of New Zealanders.

Labour’s opposition to the Immigration Bill raised the question whether the party was speaking for aliens or New Zealanders, Mr Hunt said. He said that the bill brought New Zealand into line with other countries in ensuring that illegal immigrants would be deported.