Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says it’s not her role to intervene in the case of a NZ-born 18-year-old, who’s facing deportation to India – a place he has never been to.
Daman Kumar, 18. has been told to leave the country by tomorrow or face a deportation order. He would face being deported to India — a country he’s never been to.
His parents have lived in New Zealand for about 24 years as overstayers.
Kumar’s case has been extensively covered in the media in the past several days.
Speaking to Q+A, Stanford said the decision was up to Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk, who has chosen not to use his ministerial discretion in the case.
Asked whether she could intervene, she said: “That’s not my role to intervene.
“That is the role of the associate minister, and that is up to him. I’ve had a look. I don’t know all of the details of the case, because it hasn’t come across my desk, so I’m not going to talk to the details of it.
“But broadly, there are rules in this country for making sure that people abide by the visa settings, and there are thousands of people every year who leave the country when they should and do the right thing.”
Stanford added: “There are rules in place, and there are options for people who are in these situations to leave the country and come back in, and be regularised on a visa.
“There are options.”
Previously, Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk told Stuff that he would not be using his ministerial discretion in the case.
In response to queries, Penk added in a tweet: “I’m not getting into details of individual cases … but cases involving illegality are often considered in the context of fairness to those who have played by the rules.”
Seymour ‘overstepped’ in teacher-only days call
Later in her Q+A interview, Stanford revealed her thoughts that Associate Education Minister David Seymour “overstepped the mark somewhat” when he said the Government would crackdown on teacher-only days during term time last year.
At the time, his remarks were oft-interpreted as bringing an end to days off during term.
But speaking to Q+A, Stanford said: “He knew at the time he was overstepping the mark somewhat, because it’s my decision. I am the Minister of Education and when we are rolling out a new curriculum, we have to have curriculum days.
“I am not in a position, because of the way that the system works with the unions, to say, ‘You must do it in the holidays’.”
The issue arose during the Q+A interview as Stanford was being asked whether teachers would have enough time to adopt the Government’s new school curriculums.
She said there continued to be teacher-only days during term time this year.
“There are teacher-only days during term time. In fact, I’ve given, for this year two that I’ve said to schools that I am allowing you to have, and then another two that the boards can use to roll that up,” she told Q+A.
“The settings are such that we have to have them during term time. We’re trying to keep them to an absolute minimum. But my message to parents is that during those times, those teachers are looking at the new curriculum.
“They’re unpacking it, the year-by-year, knowledge-rich curriculum that’s now internationally benchmarked because we have a world leading education system in train, that they will be unpacking it on those days. It was really important to us to make sure teachers have the time to unpack the curriculum.”
Last September, Seymour said: “Schools will have to play their part in setting a good example as well. This means not taking teacher-only days during term time.
“Under existing regulations, and terms in the union contracts, teacher-only days are only legally allowed to be held out of term time, unless authorised by the Minister of Education.”
Stanford on immigration, education portfolios
Stanford, a senior government minister, spoke to Q+A on her portfolio responsibilities in immigration and education, following the Government’s announcement to attract more wealthy investors to New Zealand with a special class of visa.
She was questioned about the new visa category’s effectiveness and her support of partially lifting the foreign buyers’ ban.
The Immigration Minister also spoke about challenges facing the tourism sector, and whether more visa-free access, including from countries such as China, was an option.
As Education Minister, Stanford was pressed about the Government’s beleaguered overhaul of the school lunch programme, teacher-only day rules and curriculum changes.
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air