NZ seeks talks with Canberra over Direction 99 reform

NZ Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says he doesn’t want to see Australia deport Kiwis who have little connection to their country of origin.

NZ Deputy PM Winston Peters. Picture: Getty Images.

New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is seeking urgent talks with Australia over Direction 99 reform, saying he doesn’t want to see Australia deport New Zealanders who have little connection to their country of origin.

The Albanese government has committed to reforming the controversial Ministerial Direction, which was introduced last year to appease New Zealand’s anger over a string of deportations of long-term Australian residents with few ties to their country of citizenship.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced he would repeal the directive on Wednesday, after The Australian revealed multiple cases of rapists and pedophiles being allowed to stay because of their ties to Australia.

But Mr Peters, who is also NZ’s foreign minister, suggested he would appeal to Anthony Albanese’s “common sense” approach to the issue.

“We understand Australia intends to make changes to its deportation policy,” Mr Peters said in a statement.

“We accept that Australia has the right to determine what level of offending by non-citizens is unacceptable.

“But we do not want to see deportation of people with little or no connection to New Zealand, whose formative experiences were nearly all in Australia.

“We note Prime Minister Albanese’s previous commitment to take a ‘common sense’ approach to deportation of people to New Zealand who had effectively spent their entire lives in Australia. We intend to engage with Australia at a political level on this matter as soon as possible.”