Well that was a waste of one year of my life.
Finally – we come to the end of a really shitty year for me. It started with finally deciding we had enough of NZIS pissing about over the medicals, and has ended with the Ombudsman telling us to basically get stuffed.
Our letter starts off quite well, talking about our reference to the lack of published complaints process, and how they now made it accessible. So that’s a tick in the “Done” box. (lets ignore for a moment that the Ombudsman was complicit in keeping it hidden as well). Then we get to our “Concerns about delay”. This is where things get a trifle “distressing”. Basically all the ombudsman is doing is copying parts of a letter they have received from INZ about this.
That’s it.
No investigation, no review of the evidence I provided (and there was a LOT of it – it took 3 A4 envelopes stuffed to the brim to hand it in). Just a cut and paste of what INZ told them to say.
Brilliant.
I’m so glad I wasted my time actually writing to the Ombudsman, let alone ensuring that the files I sent were complete and fully referenced. It seems all I had to do was ask them to ask the nice people at INZ to repeat their crap because I was too stupid to read it the first 27 times.
Importantly – INZ have once again not been completely honest and upfront – and it disturbs me that the Ombudsman – who is let’s remember supposed to be “Independent” is so easily misled.
INZ say,
“escalation of the complaint to the DS [deputy secretary] would have resulted in yet another person having to review the full case history and [dad] would still have needed to provide further medical information”.
Well, what a load of bollocks.
For a start – this refers to the fact that once I discovered what the complaints process actually entailed – I found that the Branch Manager should have investigated the complaint himself – not hand it off to the Head of the Family Residence team. This has nothing to do with the Deputy Secretary – it has to do with following procedures properly and doing the job properly. After all – how many times was I told rather snottily that the staff were “just following the process” and couldn’t possible be helpful by breaking the process to speed things along. They always say this when they want to get out of some screw up, and hide behind it when they don’t want to bend the rules to fix said screw up. I’m sick to death of INZ cherrypicking when to follow the rules and when to ignore them depending entirely on what suits them personally. Either the rules apply to everyone – or to no one.
Secondly – if just one single person involved had had the guts and intelligence, let alone the decency to actually go back to the Medical Assessor and ask him what the hell he thought he was doing, then we should not in fact have had to provide any further medical info.
Then INZ (via the mouthpiece of the “independent” ombudsman) says:
“[the Head of the Family Team] made a real effort to explain to [me] that the residence application was subject to her father providing medical evidence to the Medical Assessor notwithstanding the fact that [I] had her personal perception of what constituted an acceptable standard of health.”
What a load of bullshit!
She broke procedure by inferring quite clearly that Dad had an appendix 10 condition, which he did not, and it is completely outside of her job to make that call. She also could not be arsed to contact the MA to ask for clarification, and became abusive when I asked repeatedly for her to clarify what the MA wanted to know.
Further – it was not MY opinion of my father’s health. By this point he had had so many tests it was not funny – and they all said the same thing – he was in excellent health. “My opinion” – my arse!
INZ also believes
“every effort was made to resolve the situation without the need to escalate it further”.
You have got to be kidding. I’ve dealt with a number of complaints over the years – and I’m telling you – the head of the family team screwed it up big time. You do not start having a go at someone and being rude to them when they make a complaint – you fix the bloody problem. The case office refused to speak to us – how on earth is that making “every effort”? He could have sorted this out months before we even made a compalnt – he just couldn’t be bothered to take an hour out of his day to talk to us.
INZ do go on to say (via the helpful mouthpiece that is the independent ombudsman, of course):
It has duly noted [my] comments and Mr Ross Wells, Manager of the Business Improvement and Risk arm of the Department of Labour has been informed of the situation. Mr Wells proposes to raise the issues when the department outlines its Performance Improvement Action to the State Service Commission, in the near future.”
Well, blimey – that’s OK then. Just a thought – TELL ME THAT IN A LETTER TO ME YOU BLITHERING IDIOTS!
Sheesh – these people really have no clue about how to deal with a situation like this properly. I need to see some action – not a meaningless “apology” that only covers about half of what INZ staff screwed up on. Not that I understand a word of what that says mind you – sounds like “pseudo-scientific-bollocks” to me. It does however win the award for the most capitals used in a sentence that says nothing whatsoever of any importance.
The only other thing the Ombudsman tells me on this score is that she understands my dads application was approved in March. No shit Sherlock. But thanks for telling me. That was nice of you. Really.
Right – then we get on to a heading of “Recent Correspondence”, which concerns that fact that no real action was to be taken against the case officer and the FRT even though they badly mishandled the case, lied and abused us.
The Ombudsman says (No really – they actually said this themselves this time):
“I consider that the appropriateness of whether disciplinary action should be taken against a staff member is an employment issue and properly for the Chief Executive of an organisation to determine”.
So basically: bugger off and shut up.
This is something that is very disturbing about life in New Zealand. Companies and organisations can hide behind the phrase “Employment issue” and use it to slam the brakes on any complaint you have about someone working for that organisation or company. You have no right whatsoever to know the outcome. I happen to know for example that the member of staff in the Labour Whips office who so elegantly called me a “dingbat” still hasn’t been sacked – despite that fact that she has now twice sent abusive emails about people “accidentally” to those people. (I think she should be sacked for gross stupidity apart from anything else). But I was not told that by the people who oversaw the investigation – because I didn’t have a right to know.
By claiming this is an “Employment issue” – the ombudsman neatly and effectively stonewalls most of my complaint – and the far more serious elements of it: why INZ staff can get away with lying – not just to applicants and their families, but to MP’s and also it seems to the ombudsman herself.
I think that’s called a Whitewash isn’t it? Or a cover up?
And finally, the ombudsman sums up with the most unbelievably gobsmacking ending I think I ever seen in answer to a complaint:
“I am pleased that your complaint has culminated in a satisfactory outcome”
Well, after almost a week on from receiving this letter – I am still shocked by this. I really do not know what to say (and as you can see – I usually have quite a bit to say on this subject). How on earth do you answer someone telling you that you are satisfied with something when you are obviously going to be bloody furious?
The fury of that alone is still burning. How bloody dare she?
You now what: as an “immigrant” in New Zealand, I may not have the right to advise people, I may not have the right to free speech, and I may not have the right to insist that INZ treat all applicants with decency and fairness, but I damn well DO have the right to decide for myself whether I am “satisfied” with the outcome of this farce. Similarly, the ombudsman may have the right to “discontinue this matter” but there is no way in hell she has the right to determine for me and my family that this outcome is anything like satisfactory.
Unbelievable.
So, how has this process affected my feelings about having emigrated to New Zealand?
Well, I really wish I could say that it hasn’t changed my perception and view of the place. But honestly – with this and with the IALA crap – my opinion of New Zealand is not much better than my opinion of the UK. I think when you have to scratch the surface of life here, such as when faced with having to deal with obstinate and lazy INZ staff, you find a level of corruption and dishonesty which is completely at odds with New Zealand’s reputation. Much like the 100% pure label that is getting a well deserved drubbing right now – the reputation for being upfront, uncorrupt and decent isn’t actually true in many cases.
I guess what it comes down to is that if you follow the (legal) advice of our local MP and “Don’t Rock The Boat” as an immigrant – then your life here will be very pretty and lovely. But the minute you stand up for something because you have been wronged, our experience shows you will be reminded quite severely that you are an “immigrant” and told to shut up and stop making a fuss.
I personally think this shames New Zealand, and is the very reason why Mary Anne Thompson was allowed to get away with fraud and dishonestly getting residence for her family. At the very highest levels there is a huge lack of willingness to deal with the problem department that is INZ. Everyone knows its broken, and needs fixing, but no one has the guts to do it. And if you as an immigrant try and take a stand – you will it seems face a bewildering lack of concern for what is happening.
It lets down future migrants, it lets down the people of New Zealand, and it also lets down the many staff at INZ who do their jobs properly, fairly and honestly. The fact that the same person is still in cahrge of family applications in London, is still bullying applicants, still doing a crap job, and gets to carry on doing it is scary.
I know I am not the only one who faced these issues. And thankfully – it is not (yet) illegal to publicise these issues on the Internet. So for the time being – the only support immigrants will get is knowing that they are not alone.
Do I think people should complain?
Hell yes! But because I also believe that INZ will not do anything, and obviously the ombudsman doesn’t give a toss either – I also think its worth making the details available on the Internet. Start a blog, put the information up on a forum or do something else, but get the information out there. I’m happy to publish people’s stories anonymously if you do not want to be named. In many cases lately – the people who get bad decisions from INZ overturned are the ones who go to the media. That says a lot about what is going on.
On this matter, and for me though – this looks like the end of the road. I will be writing to the ombudsman to express my disgust at the pointless exercise, but it looks like no matter what INZ staff do, no matter what lies they tell – nothing will be done about it. But I still have the right to tell them what I think of them. For the moment at least.
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Related posts:
- No wonder NZIS is in a mess – it’s from the top down!
- The 2 year family sponsorship wait.
- 10 things you need know if you are having problems with NZIS (INZ).
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