NZ critical of Australia’s deportation law
Matt Coughlan AAP
New Zealand’s high commissioner has urged Australia to consider giving Kiwis exemptions from tougher deportation laws, which continue to damage relations between the close neighbours.
The Senate’s legal affairs committee is scrutinising proposed laws to lower the bar for criminals’ visas to be cancelled.
Under the changes, people would automatically fail the character test if convicted of certain offences which carry a jail term of two or more years.
New Zealand High Commissioner Dame Annette King said changes made to deportation laws five years ago had disproportionately affected Kiwis.
“The 2014 changes have been corrosive to our New Zealand-Australia relationship,” she said, echoing NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
She said low rates of dual citizenship meant New Zealanders, including children, living in Australia were more vulnerable to deportation policies.
“This is one area where we do see it eats away at the people-to-people relationship,” Dame Annette said.
New Zealand would like special consideration under a ministerial direction, as recommended by parliament’s migration committee.
Lawyers and migrant groups also questioned the need to toughen up the character test.
The Law Council of Australia’s Carina Ford said decisions to cancel visas could have profound impacts.
“The law council is concerned the bill is neither necessary nor proportionate and the Migration Act already provides overly broad powers to cancel and refuse visas on character grounds,” she told the hearing in Canberra on Monday.
Designated crimes would include violent offences such as murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, threatening violence and possessing a weapon.
Sexual assault and sharing of an indecent images without consent would also be covered, along with breaches of protection orders.
Concerns were raised that women who are victims of domestic violence could also risk deportation under the new regime.
The inquiry heard the example of a woman technically in breach of a court order by contacting her abusive partner to ask for help with picking up children from school.
The law council’s David Prince said the measures would dramatically increase the number of visa cancellations.
“Assault could be someone touching your finger. Assault could be someone leading you to your harm or death,” he said.
“You can’t use words of such generality to deal with cancellation powers.”
Immigration lawyers also warned the changes could clog up the courts with more people refusing to plead guilty.
Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia chief executive Mohammad Al-Khafaji said automatic disqualification of visas should only apply to the most serious crimes.
“This amendment is unsuitable, ineffective and unjustified,” he said.
Here we go again. When will these Liarbour fuckwits stop siding with the criminals and just shut up. If Australia wants to clean up their lawless, who are we or anyone else to say otherwise. I can just imagine the aussies after Cindy’s critisism of their mining last week at Tuvalu, telling Cindy to piss off.
Pretty simple really. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time and don’t want to be sent home to NZ. Pretty simple I would have thought. No we don’t want them either and as for this new initiative of the simpleton govt about Maori in prisons its beyond belief to me. I hate this col.
How has Moonbeam spining the sexual deviate/rapist in the PMs office!
All joy, happyness and feels after the deviate Darren Hughes affair, with assisting him to escape justice!
It is a shame that ausssie is sending back all of those crims, but they did the crime and it was not parking tickets!
Is she preaching at the Aussies? We can just withdraw some Australian rights here, why are we martyring ourselves? We are rude to them anyway and then want favours.
I guess the Aussies just want people to obey their laws? What a concept. If I robbed and murdered etc I’d very much expect to be kicked out of NZ, so what’s the difference?
The difference is if you import drugs to peddle to influential people you get granted residence.
When they change the justice system here to let more maoris off, don’t catch, have their own prisons do they expect aussie to sit back and let them in?
No bloody likely visas for everybody, with more checks for maori, before given a visa!
It will be the same world wide!
WTF!
“Assault could be someone touching your finger. Assault could be someone leading you to your harm or death,” he said.
Instead of whingeing about those nasty deportations, how about they smarten up the definition of assault and charge and deport any snowflake time waster who wants another person charged for touching their finger FFS.
The law council’s David Prince is obviously an overpaid bureaucratic twat as the legislation applies to “certain offences which carry a jail term of two or more years”
Even in Australia you have to work fairly hard to get into jail for two years.
Moonbeam, is that her name from when she was a member of Helens coven?
Stick a sock in it, King.
Gee how times change.
King does not want criminals to leave the country after committing an offence but she facilitated Darren ‘the Ginger Groper’ Hughes leaving the country after he (allegedly) committed a sexual assault offence in her own house.
Make up your mind you crooked old tart.
Is there a limitation of how long after they can lay charges?
Did he come back for the election or something?
I think can remember something!