New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday condemned Australia’s policy of deporting New Zealand criminals at a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying that it was “corrosive” to trans-Tasman relations.
Australia’s conservative government in 2014 introduced a “character test” for noncitizens convicted of crimes that allows officials to expel them permanently.
New Zealanders are one of the nationalities most affected, with about 1,500 caught in the dragnet.
Photo: AFP
While some are hardened criminals, there have been many stories of people deported over relatively minor offenses such as shoplifting and low-level fraud.
Ardern, leader of New Zealand’s center-left Labour Party, said that officials had also expelled people who had grown up in Australia and had no links to New Zealand.
She used unusually strong language in her annual meeting with Australia’s leader after also raising the issue last year to no effect.
“In my view, this issue has become corrosive in our relationship over time,” Ardern said as Morrison stood beside her at a joint press conference. “I’ve made it clear that New Zealand has no issue with Australia taking a dim view of newly arrived noncitizens committing crimes.”
“But equally, the New Zealand people have a dim view of the deportation of people who move to Australia as children and have grown up there,” she said.
Morrison said that Australia was listening, but defended the policy, which his government wants to extend to cover minors.
“Our government has taken a very strong line when it comes to those who are in Australia who are on visas,” he said.
“Visas are not citizenship, visas are provided on the basis of people being compliant with those visas and that doesn’t include committing crimes,” he added.
Ardern also dismissed an Australian media report that her government had imposed strict conditions on its offer to accept 150 asylum seekers from Australia’s offshore detention camps, including not taking any single males.
While families and children tended to take priority, because they were most in need, there was no stipulation on New Zealand’s offer, which still stood, she said.
“We have been utterly consistent,” Ardern said.
Morrison said that Australia would not take up the offer.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS