‘Common sense’ call for deporting Kiwis from Australia

The New Zealand prime minister hopes common sense prevails when it comes to deporting Kiwi criminals from Australia with little links to their homeland.

Chris Luxon is in Canberra for annual leaders’ talks with Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on Friday as deportations continue to cause friction between the nations.

The issue has become a political minefield in Australia after the opposition seized on a ministerial direction that allowed courts to consider a criminal’s ties to the nation before deportation

A number of deportees who won the right to stay in Australia committed heinous crimes and prompted a reversal of the policy concession.

Mr Luxon said while he respected Australia’s laws, it was an issue he would raise “pretty directly” on Friday.

“It’s not something we agree with,” he told Nine’s Today Show before meeting Mr Albanese.

Once in New Zealand, deportees have joined gangs in huge numbers and Wellington where they stand a better chance of rehabilitation in their adopted communities.

“We think that New Zealand people that are deported to New Zealand with very little or no connection to New Zealand isn’t, sort of, fair,” Mr Luxon said.

He said he had been reassured a “common sense approach” would prevail.

“So obviously we’ve got to continue to monitor that.”

The two nations would continue to work toward a peaceful and stable Pacific region, Mr Albanese said.

“Australia’s relationship with New Zealand is one of the closest in the world, built on our shared history and generations of co-operation across the Tasman,” he said.

Mr Luxon received a ceremonial welcome at Parliament House before signing the official visitor’s book before the meeting.

Officials said Mr Luxon would raise other issues relating to New Zealanders in Australia, with a record number of Kiwis moving across the Tasman.

New Zealand is enduring a prolonged post-pandemic economic slowdown, with a double-dip recession in the past 18 months, and forecasts of a third dip this year.

Last year, Mr Albanese opened a pathway to citizenship for Kiwis who have spent four years in Australia, increasing the attractiveness of the move.

The two governments are increasing cooperation in defence, with Mr Luxon telling an audience at the Lowy Institute on Thursday night he was seeking interoperability to be a “force multiplier” for Australia.

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