Minister to scrap Pacific division in NZ - Special treatment for Kiribati relatives

[Stacey King]

By MARTIN KAY 05/03/2009
The Dominion Post New Zealand

The Immigration Department's troubled Pacific division will be scrapped after a damning report found it was a self-ruling "fiefdom", with leadership, financial and strategic matters that need urgent attention.

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman wants the division folded back into the general service after the report found it was failing badly in six of nine areas studied.

"It's become isolated and there aren't the controls there to ensure they are complying with acceptable procedures," he said. "The real concern is the whole level of service delivery."

The review, by Ernst and Young, was carried out after claims that former Immigration head Mary Anne Thompson intervened to get special treatment for Kiribati relatives seeking visas.

Ms Thompson set up the division in 2005 after the previous government ordered better services for the Pacific. She resigned last May after questions were raised about her claim to have a Phd from the London School of Economics. She faces charges in relation to those claims.

The 129-page Ernst and Young report found the division had no strategic direction and was a "fiefdom" isolated from the rest of the service. There was a perception the leaders of the division were "untouchable", accountable only to Ms Thompson.

Service and compliance problems were most pronounced in the Auckland office, but also occurred in the branch offices in Apia (Samoa), Suva (Fiji), and Nuku'alofa (Tonga).

The report said though it did well filling special Samoan and Pacific access quotas, and staff were passionate and committed, there were serious failings in most areas that required urgent attention.

These included major backlogs in cases and questions about the quality of decisions. Two-thirds of decisions in 2006-07 were reassessed after appeals from unsuccessful applicants, compared to 32 per cent for the rest of Immigration.

It was common for applicants to queue all day for a form in Apia. In Suva, one applicant referred to the line of up to 100 people as the "queue of shame". Queues formed at 4am in Tonga.

There were also concerns about financial management, with Ernst and Young finding controls were not properly followed in 37 per cent of the samples studied. Concerns included a service credit card being used to buy personal items though the money was later reimbursed and branch managers approving their own expenditure.

The report said the division should remain a separate body.

However, Dr Coleman said he would order Labour Department head Christopher Blake to consider reintegrating it back into the main service. An independent adviser would monitor Mr Blake's actions in relation to the division.

Labour immigration spokesman Pete Hodgson accused Dr Coleman of sitting on the report which was ordered by the last government for three months and using it to dismantle the division.

Ms Thompson said she was not interviewed for the review, but conceded there had been problems in the division. "There were some mistakes made, but there were a lot of good things achieved as well."