John Key’s blunt message to Julie Bishop over detention and deportation of New Zealanders

NZ Prime Minister John Key has sent a ‘blunt’ message to Australia saying he feels like Australia is “picking and choosing” which Kiwis to keep in the country and sending back the ones it doesn’t like.

• John Key says detention and deportation of New Zealanders strains the special relationship with Australia

• 200 New Zealanders in Australian detention centres face deportation

• Non-citizens serving 12 months jail can be sent home under new laws

• Upcoming talks between Key and Malcolm Tunrbull will focus on the issue

NZ Prime Minister John Key says he feels like Australia is “picking and choosing” which Kiwis to keep in the country and sending back the ones it doesn’t like.

In a sign of the tension over the issue of deportation of New Zealanders, Foreign Minister Bishop said it would be “timely” for new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to discuss the matter with Mr Key.

The remarks from Ms Bishop came after Mr Key described his meeting on the sidelines of the UN in New York with the Australian Foreign Minister as “pretty blunt”.

“There is no closer relationship than Australia and NZ so I think it’s appropriate we consider this matter as PM Key has asked us to,” Ms Bishop said.

She added that she’d discussed with Mr Key “whether there are other arrangements that

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key has raised concerns about the detention of New Zealander’s in Australia.

Australia and NZ could reach in relation to the deportation of New Zealanders”.

Mr Key told NZ radio he’d been blunt about his concerns regarding deportation of New Zealanders to the Australian Foreign Minister.

“There’s people that have often spent their entire lives now in Australia, they went over there when they were very very young,” he told Radio NZ.

“It’s a bit like the Australians are saying ‘well, we’re going to pick and choose, we’re going to keep the ones we like but we’re going to send back the ones we don’t like.”

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He said the ANZAC bond meant NZ “might get some treatment that’s different from other countries” and urged Australia to take the “rough with the smooth” on kiwis who have committed offences living in Australia.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in New York where she met with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.

The issue has come under the spotlight after the death of NZ born Junior Togatuki who was being held in Goulburn prison, awaiting deportation.

Ms Bishop said that matter had been raised with her, but she discussed detention more generally as well with the NZ counterpart.

“There was a specific instance where a New Zealander, who had been living in Australia for some time, died in detention and that specific case has been raised with me,” Ms Bishop said.