The NZ Immigration Service is damnably corrupt, Idiot Savant calls a government department "Rotten to the core" and he's right. The escapades of the Immigration Department and its lying ex. CEO Mary Anne Thompson have been news for some weeks now, and it is absolutely scandalous that the Minister isn't calling for the whole place to be purged and restructured.
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Clearly the Pacific Division has been dominated by a nepotistic culture that sounds remarkably like the kind of public service culture all too apparent in Pacific Island nations where "who you know" is terribly important. 19 cases of theft, bribery and fraud over three years. It has clearly operated like a third world bureaucracy.
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For once I agree with Idiot Savant "Led by a self-serving fraud, agreeing to lie in unison to prevent proper public oversight, and now taking bribes and kickbacks for favours. And they want even more power to abuse? Screw that - they can't possibly be trusted. The whole department needs a full, independent review to cut out the rot - and once that is done, it needs to be watched like a hawk to make sure it never reappears."
Of course it could help if a qualified open door policy was allowed on immigration, which means allowing anyone in on condition that they are not eligible for taxpayer funded education, housing, healthcare and welfare, not convicted of a criminal (violent, property, fraud) offence, not linked to a terrorist group and have the means to look after themselves for three months (and the means to leave). That would mean confronting the xenophobia of both NZ First and the Maori Party, and the socialist beliefs of those who support the welfare state, but it would help avoid bribes to be allowed in, and only let in those who wont be a claim on the state, or risk committing crimes against the rest of us.
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Clearly the Pacific Division has been dominated by a nepotistic culture that sounds remarkably like the kind of public service culture all too apparent in Pacific Island nations where "who you know" is terribly important. 19 cases of theft, bribery and fraud over three years. It has clearly operated like a third world bureaucracy.
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For once I agree with Idiot Savant "Led by a self-serving fraud, agreeing to lie in unison to prevent proper public oversight, and now taking bribes and kickbacks for favours. And they want even more power to abuse? Screw that - they can't possibly be trusted. The whole department needs a full, independent review to cut out the rot - and once that is done, it needs to be watched like a hawk to make sure it never reappears."
Of course it could help if a qualified open door policy was allowed on immigration, which means allowing anyone in on condition that they are not eligible for taxpayer funded education, housing, healthcare and welfare, not convicted of a criminal (violent, property, fraud) offence, not linked to a terrorist group and have the means to look after themselves for three months (and the means to leave). That would mean confronting the xenophobia of both NZ First and the Maori Party, and the socialist beliefs of those who support the welfare state, but it would help avoid bribes to be allowed in, and only let in those who wont be a claim on the state, or risk committing crimes against the rest of us.
