14 December 2004

NZ First Puts Forward Urgent Zaoui Bill

New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters has submitted an urgent amendment to the Immigration Act to the Leader of the House Michael Cullen, closing off the legal loophole that allowed the Supreme Court to free convicted Algerian Ahmed Zaoui.

Mr Peters has done this by way of a private members bill and he has called on all parties within Parliament to support the passing of the bill under urgency because a matter of national security is involved.

“This case is now bigger than Zaoui. New Zealand cannot have an Immigration Act that allows illegal arrivals with overseas convictions to destroy their false travel papers, claim refugee status, then get freed on bail because of glaring gaps in the law.

“This issue must be resolved with urgency. We cannot wait for some legal waffle to come from Canada as the Prime Minister has said. The result of the Zaoui case will already be encouraging others of his ilk to come here to try their luck,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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