Iraqi family lied to enter NZ, says Peters

A family of more than 15 Iraqis has slipped into Auckland as refugees, carrying fake documents identifying them as being from a "safe" eastern country, Winston Peters says.

The new allegation comes as poll respondents rate his honesty and integrity as second only to that of Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The NZ First leader has leaped to 17.7 per cent in the preferred Prime Minister stakes after last week exposing an Immigration Service blunder in admitting two members of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime to New Zealand.

Mr Peters said the Iraqi family had come in with false passports.

"They destroyed their documentation. They then adopted the ethnicity and nationality of another group, and all came in on that as UN refugees. The whole family and connected family is a lie."

He said he would be demanding answers from Immigration Minister Paul Swain and his department in Parliament this week.

"If they knew, what are [the Iraqis] doing here? Every one of these people should be expelled from this country."

Last night, Department of Labour deputy secretary Mary Anne Thompson said New Zealand took refugees selected by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

"These people have been vetted by UNHCR," she said. "If there are concerns about people's identities, we want to know the details so we can look at them."

Mr Peters knows his high credibility poll-rating will be short-lived unless he comes up with the goods on his immigration allegations.

The Herald on Sunday-Digipoll was carried out as the Prime Minister's involvement in eliciting former Police Commissioner Peter Doone's resignation was questioned.

Despite the fact that 53 per cent of respondents named Helen Clark as their preferred Prime Minister, only 28 per cent rated her integrity and honesty highest.

Mr Peters' integrity rated 21 per cent, ahead of National's Don Brash on 15 per cent.

The rating is a blow for both Labour and National, who campaign on their leaders' personal credibility, and good news for Winston Peters.

In further good news for him, the poll showed nearly two-thirds of respondents had lost confidence in the Immigration Service's ability to stop potential terrorists coming into New Zealand. Thirty-eight per cent had low confidence in the service; 27 per cent had very low confidence.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain defended his officials. "These issues around immigration tend to float to the surface in election years, and obviously high-profile cases like we've had in the past week impact on people's views of confidence," he said. "They deal with over half a million visas a year and you don't hear about the success stories."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY