Ministry refutes boat risk claims

A senior Foreign Affairs official has told MPs there is no evidence people smugglers are increasingly targeting New Zealand since the change of Government.

Jeff Langley, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) deputy secretary, briefed MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about New Zealand’s dealings with Australia and Papua New Guinea over the refugees on Manus Island.

New Zealand has offered to take 150 of those refugees — an offer Australia has shelved while it focuses on the United States’ promise to take more than 1000 refugees.

National MPs on the select committee asked Langley whether Mfat had been told boat people were targeting New Zealand more since the change of Government.

A reported intelligence leak to Australian media said its border officials had stopped four boatloads of asylum seekers who said they were heading to New Zealand. Further reports suggested New Zealand was considered a more viable destination under the Labour Government.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she had been briefed on the matter but was unable to say whether the four boatloads had been stopped recently or in the past.

Langley said he understood those four boatloads were historical incidents.

“We haven’t seen any intelligence that suggests there were recent credible ventures.”

He said there had been no intelligence beyond “chatter” that indicated New Zealand was now a greater target for people smugglers.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve increased our risk. The chatter that we hear with respect to the possibility of mounting ventures to New Zealand has always been part of the people smugglers’ business model.”

Pushed further by National’s Simon Bridges, Langley said he could not speak for every agency in Government but he had seen no recent reports New Zealand was at greater risk of boat people arriving.

A frustrated Bridges burst out: “Could I, at the risk of being rude, ask you then why are you here?”

Langley replied he had been invited to talk about New Zealand’s approach to Australia about the offer to take 150 refugees from Manus Island.

National’s questioning had not got off to a good start after former Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Brownlee appeared confused about the distinction between refugees and asylum seekers.

Told about two thirds of those on Manus Island had been approved as refugees, Brownlee asked how many of the remainder had been formally approved as asylum seekers.

Mfat’s Bernadette Cavanagh, deputy secretary to Multilateral and Legal Affairs Group, explained all people seeking asylum were automatically deemed asylum seekers until they were determined to be refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Brownlee also asked whether any of those accused of sexual offences and other crimes at Manus Island could be accepted as refugees in New Zealand.

Cavanagh said any refugees would have to pass New Zealand’s own screening process and anyone who committed such acts was unlikely to get through.

National MPs also pushed Langley over the pressure Ardern had put on Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to allow New Zealand to take 150 refugees from Manus Island.

Langley said he had not had had any kickback from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about New Zealand restating its offer to take 150 people, which had stood since 2013. He said while that offer had not been rejected, Australia’s immediate focus was on trying to resettle refugees in the US and working with the PNG government.