‘Trust but verify’, says David Seymour as biometrics bungle rattles public trust

Pacific families hit by immigration failures deserve transparency, says the Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, acknowledging a wider review into the agency’s leadership culture could be “a good idea”.

This comes amid the collapse of the Biometric Capability Update project, a seven year IT venture designed to modernise identity management systems which wrapped up in November last year after delivering no benefits.

Greg James, an independent consultant, conducted a review revealing that the project did not deliver any results despite running for years amid leadership lapses and other challenges.

Criticisms of this oversight have drawn comparisons to the Michael Heron KC’s, an independent barrister, 2023 investigation into Immigration New Zealand, which revealed out-of-hours immigration visits to the homes of overstayers at dawn.

This controversy occurred after just two years after a formal government apology for the historic late 1970s Dawn Raids, as pointed out by Pacific leaders in their criticism of the out-of-hours policy.

When asked if Heron should examine the wider culture of the agency, Mr Seymour told William Terite on Pacific Mornings that it “sounds like a good idea”.

The Dawn Raids of the 1970s targeted Pacific communities disproportionately, creating intergenerational trauma and mistrust of the state. Photo/Facebook

“I haven’t set the terms of reference for Mike Heron. But when you mention that this is the second time that there's been a government department that's gone and done something… again, no surprises” Seymour says.

Seymour says it is likely that Immigration NZ had not told the Labour administration in 2023, because if they did, they would likely see it as a problem.

“If they did, it's on those ministers. Nonetheless, there is a fair question that they seem to believe, at least in these two instances, that they don't need to tell the politicians what's going on.

Watch David Seymour's full interview below.

“If they don't tell the politicians, politicians can't be responsible and if the politicians aren't responsible, [then] the voters aren't in charge, the bureaucracy is.”

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) says the terms of reference have been released for the Public Service Commission’s independent inquiry into integrity issues in relation to the Biometric Capability Update project.

The MBIE says it would therefore be inappropriate for them to comment further at this time. But they add that they will co-operate fully with the inquiry.

“MBIE has implemented the recommendations of the independent review into out-of-hours immigration visits and our guidance now makes it clearer that out-of-hours visits to residential addresses should only be carried out as a last resort.,” MBIE says.

“A judicial warrant for any out-of-hours compliance activity is also now needed as recommended in the review. No out-of-hours visits have taken place since the review was released in July 2023.”

The 2023 Heron Report found that out-of-hours compliance checks made up less than one per cent of deportations. Photo/INZ

When asked how Pacific families can trust the agency to treat them fairly after these systemic communication and leadership failures, Seymour advises a stance of caution.

“Trust but verify. You've got to trust people. One of the things about our society is that your default position is to trust people to do what they say they're going to do and believe what they say,” Seymour says.

“Once you get away from that default position, then it's very difficult to do business and function. So you have to trust but verify.”

Seymour says reaching out to a local MP can also help. He says that is what he does for his Epsom electorate, and to consider reaching out to the ombudsman about an immigration issue.