Lawrence Yule: Immigration fair go or free ride?

How drug smuggler Karel Sroubek managed to convince the Government to let him stay is incomprehensible, writes Lawrence Yule. Photo / File

In New Zealand we pride ourselves on being a pretty fair country. We like to give people a fair go, but not a free ride.

That's why the Government's decision to grant Karel Sroubek permanent residency is so baffling. He's had more than a fair go and now he's getting a completely undeserved free ride.

Sroubek is a convicted drug smuggler with gang associations. He came to New Zealand on a false passport. How he has managed to convince the Government to let him stay is incomprehensible.

Recently it was revealed the Immigration Minister [Iain Lees-Galloway] had intervened to allow Karel Sroubek to stay in New Zealand when he is released from prison rather than have him sent back to his native Czech Republic, even though the Parole Board refused to grant him parole in the meantime.

In spite of the immense public interest and making a decision contrary to the public safety of New Zealanders, the Government is refusing to explain why.

When the story first came to public attention the Minister claimed he had "considered carefully" Sroubek's case before approving permanent residency and that it was "not a decision I have made lightly."

We now know that isn't true. Last week he admitted making the decision less than an hour after receiving the file. Worse, he's confessed to not even reading all the material contained in the file, only "parts" of it.

That's an appalling process to make such an important decision, and New Zealanders deserve to know why their safety has been put at risk.

There's been a suggestion that it's unsafe for him to return to the Czech Republic.

That might well be a valid reason, except we know he's travelled there from New Zealand several times.

People from all around the world want to live and work in New Zealand because of the opportunities here.

They bring immense benefits to New Zealand, from skills and capital to new ideas and international connections.

As your local Member of Parliament I've dealt with dozens of immigration cases in recent months.

The vast majority are genuine, law-abiding people, with jobs and families.

There are also lots of parents who are unable to join their New Zealand-based families with residency.

I work on their behalf, and as a last resort sometimes make a direct appeal to the Immigration Minister

Meanwhile that same Minister intervened to grant permanent residency to a convicted drug smuggler and fraudster with known links to organised crime, without even bothering to read the file.

Something is very wrong in the Sroubek case and it's up to the Government to tell us why.

It's not good enough that they throw up their hands and divert attention elsewhere.

* Lawrence Yule is MP for Tukituki