PM Malcolm Turnbull in talks with NZ counterpart John Key
CONVICTED New Zealand crooks will continue to be deported from Australia despite concerns about the tough policy across the Tasman.
CONVICTED New Zealand crooks will continue to be deported from Australia despite concerns about the tough policy across the Tasman.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stood firm on his government’s new approach during bilateral talks with counterpart John Key today, but has promised to speed up the appeals process.
The policy, where non-Australian citizen jailed for a year or more imprisonment has their visa revoked, has created unrest in New Zealand with more than 240 Kiwis in detention on Christmas Island.
It has also been announced that New Zealand-born students who have lived in Australia since childhood will gain access to student loans to help them study at university.
The move will help 2,600 New Zealanders afford a tertiary education from next year.
Mr Key said he had been “frank” and “honest” about the deportation issue with Mr Turnbull during their two-hour meeting in Auckland this morning.
“We do understand how it’s perceived in New Zealand and John has been very forthright in our discussions,’ Mr Turnbull said.
“We are going to address this.”
Mr Turnbull said the amount of New Zealanders to be deported - more than 1000 - because of the backlog created with the new law.
“Those numbers will decline and then settle at a relatively low number going forward,” he said.
Mr Turnbull said he would divert additional resources to ensure the processing was done “much more quickly” and promised he and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton would collaborate “more closely” with New Zealand over the issue.
Mr Key said welcomed the additional resources to be committed to processing and said he was “reasonably confident” the number of New Zealanders spending time time in detention would diminish “significantly” over time.
He said New Zealand continued to offer consular support to its nationals in detention and was confident the process was bound by a “very good legal process”.
“There is a review process that takes mace. It is independent. If people have concerns, they need to make those concerns known in and the independent review will take place,” he said.
Meanwhile the new HECS-style system for students will be available to those who entered Australia as a dependent child who have lived in Australia for at least 10 years.
Previously New Zealand citizens could only attend Australian universities if they paid upfront, regardless of how long they had lived here.
The move was first mooted at meetings between former leader Tony Abbott and New Zealand prime minister John Key in February this year.
Despite supporting the change Labor had twice voted the legislation down because it was tied up in the Coalition government’s university deregulation efforts.
Mr Turnbull said giving New Zealanders the same access to a university degree as Australians would play a “crucial role” in enriching lives and careers while it would also boost productivity and the economy.
He hoped to have the legislation pass the parliament next week.
“This Bill represents important opportunities for New Zealanders who have long called Australia home, and provides fairness given Australians… have long had access to New Zealand’s student loan scheme,” Mr Turnbull said.
Australia and New Zealand plan to share data on the loans scheme to ensure efforts at future debt recovery.
A group advocating for New Zealanders’ rights in Australia, Oz Kiwi, warned this week that New Zealand-born high school students were losing interest in further education because they know they cannot fund it.
The issue had become a particular issue for the Maori and Pacific Islanders living in Australia.
Earlier Mr Turnbull and wife Lucy received a traditional Maori welcome at Government House in Auckland, which included a fearsome Haka and a military parade, before entering what was expected to be two hours of tense discussions.
Australia’s treatment of more than 200 New Zealanders in detention on Christmas Island has cast a shadow over Mr Turnbull’s first overseas visit since coming to power.
Mr Key offered Mr Turnbull a cup of black tea before the formal talks, where the new Australian PM said he hoped his government could emulate the achievement of its trans-Tasman friend.
He said the pair, whose relationship dates back to their successful days as bankers, had been “good friends” for a long time and it was “appropriate” that his first international trip as Prime Minister was to New Zealand.
Originally published as PM Malcolm Turnbull in talks with NZ counterpart John Key
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