New Immigration Act

I’ve yet to go through the detail of it, but generally I think the Government and David Cunliffe should be congratulated for their proposed new Immigration Act.

Governments have been looking to reduce the massive delays and loopholes in the Act for over a decade.  Shysters like Irishman Danny Butler exploited every avenue to try and stay in NZ, and it took far too long to get rid of him.  Likewise the Zaoui case should be able to be determined within a year, not a decade.  Thd trouble is the longer it takes to resolve the more people think “oh let them stay, they’ve been here so long now anyway”.

The NZ Herald editorial also supports the proposed new law as a good balance.  I don’t know anyone who can justify having four seperate appeal bodies – the Residence Review Board, the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, the Removal Review Authority and the Deportation Review Tribunal.  One new Immigration and Protection Tribunal is a vast improvement.

Not surprisingly No Right Turn disagrees. Mind you his concerns over secret evidence may be well founded – I’ve yet to do a full clause by clause read of the Bill.  But it is generally headed in the right direction and I suspect after it is passed people will refer to the bad old days of 5+ year delays in resolcing immigration issues.