Friday September 28, 2007

An independent review of a key border security unit has raised doubts about its ability to detect unwelcome immigrants.

The Immigration Profiling Group was set up in 2005 after NZ First leader Winston Peters complained that former high-ranking Iraqi government officials had been able to enter New Zealand. It sifts through applications coming from people living in a list of 23 high-risk countries, and is supposed to alert immigration authorities.

But a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on its work says about 90 per cent of its staff do not have appropriate levels of security clearance. Some of them had not previously worked for the Immigration Service, or had less than six months' experience with it.

The report, released last night, says the Immigration Service's risk management structure "appears fragmented and inefficient" with its functions spread across different units.

"Each of these groups contain some element of profiling and risk management, which might be more effectively and efficiently consolidated, thereby taking advantage of economies and effectiveness of scale," it says.

The review also found problems with the research library the unit uses, saying there was confusion over roles and lines of communication.

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe last night said he was going to ensure steps were quickly taken to deal with the issues raised in the report.

Mr Peters said the report showed the unit was "an underfunded shambles" which left New Zealand nearly as badly exposed as it was before it was formed.

- NZPA