Jacinda Ardern to raise deportation of New Zealanders in meeting with Scott Morrison

Jacinda Ardern will raise a “thorn-in-the-side topic’’ with Scott Morrison.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appears with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in Melbourne today. Picture: Getty Images

New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern will raise the “corrosive issue” of Australia deporting more Kiwis on character grounds when she meets with her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Melbourne.

About 800 New Zealanders were booted out of their adoptive country last year, with most cases involving expat criminals who had been convicted of violent offences.

Ms Ardern said it was legitimate for Australia to deport New Zealand nationals who had committed serious crimes but the emergence of cases involving people with tenuous links to New Zealand had become a thorn in the side of bilateral relations.

“Those New Zealanders who are living in Australia and who may struggle for citizenship despite having lived here for a long time and the benefits of citizenship is something I consistently raise and will continue to do so,’’ she said ahead of Friday’s meeting with Mr Morrison.

“There are a number of areas where it would be completely legitimate for a New Zealand citizen to be deported back to New Zealand if they engage in criminal activity, but we have seen cases where there is almost no connection of an individual to New Zealand who had been deported.

“I consider that to be a corrosive part of that policy and it is having a corrosive effect on our relationship so I will continue to raise that as well’’.

The meeting with Mr Morrison is Ms Ardern’s final stop in an overnight visit to Melbourne intended to assuage the concerns of Australian banks and would-be investors about proposed changes to New Zealand’s foreign investment rules.

The New Zealand government is preparing a second tranche of reforms to its Overseas Investment Act expected to expand the definition of “sensitive assets” which require government approval to sell to a foreign buyer and introduce a character test for would-be buyers. Ms Ardern said her message to Australian investors was New Zealand remains open for business.

“We are looking for productive investment that is good for New Zealand and good for our economy,’’ she said shortly before a meeting with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Ms Ardern held talks with bosses from ANZ and AMP today and will hold further discussion with institutional investors tomorrow prior to her meeting with Mr Morrison.

She told New Zealand reporters that one of the barriers to greater investment in New Zealand was a so-called “confidence gap” — the difference between the talent and ingenuity of New Zealand entrepreneurs and the willingness of New Zealand to sell itself to attract overseas capital.

While Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern have vastly differing relations with US President Donald Trump — the New Zealand Prime Minister has condemned Mr Trump’s racially charged statements about Democrat congresswomen while Mr Morrison is expected to be honoured with a State dinner when he next visits Washington — Ms Ardern said they were “signing from the same songsheet” when it came to US engagement in the Asia Pacific region.

“Both of us have been calling for greater engagement,’’ she said.

Ms Ardern said she would be willing to expand New Zealand’s free trade agreement with the US but only if US tariffs were lifted against New Zealand aluminium and steel exports. “Any expansion of free trade deal must serve New Zealand interests,” she said.

The Trump administration last year excluded Australian steel and aluminium smelters from its tariffs regime but imposed the trade penalty on New Zealand.

Ms Ardern will tonight deliver a keynote address to the Australia and New Zealand School of Government at Melbourne’s Town Hall.