The parliamentary Question
Time was interrupted by a group of protesters this afternoon, demanding
justice over an immigration issue.
Two Maori women, with about a dozen whanau
supporters, shouted from the public gallery that their husbands were
being refused entry to New Zealand.
It took several minutes for security staff to remove them from the gallery, which is above the debating chamber.
The shouts from the gallery came as the Labour Party
leader David Cunliffe was grilling the Government over paying
compensation to the Pike River families.
The protest forced Speaker David Carter to pause the debate until the protesters were removed by security.
During the interruption, one man yelled: "Bring him
back. Fix your immigration up. Her husband is not allowed home. Bring
him home. For 12 months they've had no dad".
"You sit in here and get paid all your money, what
about our families? You're ripping our whanau apart. All of you are.
You're all guilty. Every one of you."
The protest lasted several minutes before the questions resumed.
Immigration
consultant Tuariki Delamere, a former immigration minister, said he
represented the women and told reporters outside parliament they were
both married to Indian men.
He said the men
returned to India to visit family, and were being refused re-entry
because the Immigration Department said the marriages weren't genuine.
"They don't know what to do, Immigration NZ says the marriages aren't genuine, go away, get lost," he said.
"One of the women has been married for two years, the other for three years, they have young children."
Mr Delamere said they came to parliament because they wanted to make their case known.
"It's a pity there was a bit of shouting in the chamber, but what else could they do?"
3 News/ NZN
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