Seven Immigration staff fired - rest get lecture

Seven Immigration New Zealand staff have been dismissed. Photo / Martin Sykes

Seven Immigration New Zealand staff have been dismissed since January for breaching its code of conduct - and the agency's chief, Nigel Bickle, says this could shatter public confidence in its integrity.

In the latest dismissals, a border security staff member and a visa officer in New Delhi got their marching orders.

Mr Bickle has issued a memo to staff appealing to them to act lawfully, professionally and objectively in what they do.

"Incidents such as these are damaging to the organisation's values and to its reputation ... Integrity is regarded as the quality of having an intuitive sense of honesty and truthfulness in regard to the motivations of our actions," he said.

"As public servants ... we must at all times ensure that we act lawfully, professionally and objectively and ensure that our actions do not bring the department into disrepute or jeopardise its relationships with the Government, clients or the public."

Mr Bickle described the actions of the two staff as "serious".

The border security man was fired after his conduct was "determined to have brought the department into disrepute" and the visa officer for "misusing departmental information for personal purposes".

Under the department's code of conduct, agreeing to a media interview without authority, misusing department records, selling client information and withholding information from the Government or minister can result in criminal charges and/or a formal warning or immediate dismissal.

Mr Bickle said 63 serious allegations had been made against staff in the past 12 months, but most had not been substantiated. He added that most of the 1200 staff were "professional, hardworking and committed".

The Auditor-General has questioned in reports the quality of service at Immigration New Zealand, and last month said more than one-fifth of its decisions were questionable or poor.

Of the substantiated allegations, most were for dishonesty - where staff were found to have acted without authority or committed deceit.

The agency is also facing a police probe in New Delhi for alleged corruption among its officers.

"We've done a lot of work around the standards that we expect, and have a strong emphasis on integrity," Mr Bickle said.

"Where there are issues around integrity, we are going to take action."

He said the dismissals were about "breaches of conduct" and "nothing to do with fraud".

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman was recently left red-faced at an export education conference in Auckland because immigration officials had failed to tell him of delays in processing student permit applications.

Allan Hughes, head of Kiwi Immigration Watch, a watchdog group, said public confidence had been "severely damaged" and Mr Bickle should also be sacked to restore public trust.

Mr Hughes, a former Immigration NZ staffer, said Mr Bickle should be held accountable for his officials' failure to keep Dr Coleman updated on the student permit situation.

But Dr Coleman said he was standing by Mr Bickle and remained confident "he is the right man for the job".

CODE OF CONDUCT

Actions that could result in criminal charges and/or formal warning or immediate dismissal from the Department of Labour:

* Agreeing to a media interview without authority.
* Misusing, falsifying or destroying department records.
* Giving out an address or details about a person to unauthorised persons.
* Revealing advice given to Government or minister without authority.
* Withholding information from Government or minister that they ought to know.