NZ to keep up pressure on Coalition over deporting criminals, says Winston Peters

After Scott Morrison’s tense exchange with Jacinda Ardern over criminal deportation laws, NZ’s foreign minister goes on the attack.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has attacked proposed­ Coalition laws that could hike up the number of Kiwi criminals being deported from Australia, after a tense exchange over the matter between Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison.

Despite both countries facing similar serious national security problems, the issue of deportations continues to be a thorn in the side of the bilateral relationship.

This was on show yesterday when the New Zealand Prime Minister lashed out over the issue while standing next to her Australian counterpart, calling it “corrosive” to the bilateral relationship.

The government has been attempt­ing to pass a new law that would expand the grounds for visa cancellations further.

It would mean anyone convicted of an offenc­e punishable by at least two years in prison could have their visa cancelled even if they got a very short sentence.

Mr Peters said the New Zealand government was “concerned” about the laws, which “disproportionately” hurt New Zealanders.

Jenny Morrison and Ms Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford, with birdkeeper Erin Grierson and a baby kiwi at Auckland Zoo. Picture: AAP

“New Zealand accepts the Australia­n government’s sovereign right to determine the level of criminality that it deems unacceptable­ for non-citizens,” Mr ­Peters said.

“But we will continue to make the case that these laws have a disproportio­nate effect on New Zealanders, due to their unique ability to live in Australia indefin­itely as non-citizens.”

Ms Ardern brought up the issue early in her opening statement at a press conference with the Aust­ralian Prime Minister and said the two leaders had a “frank” chat about the issue.

“We talked about deportations of New Zealanders. In my view, this issue has become corrosive in a relationship over time,” she said.

“I’ve made it clear that New Zealand has no issue with … Australi­a taking a dim view of newly arrived non-citizens commit­ting crimes.

“But equally, the New Zealand people have a dim view of the deportatio­n of people who move to Australia as children and have grown up there with, often, little or no lasting connection to (New Zealand).”

Mr Morrison, however, sug­ges­t­ed that Australia was unlikely to shift on the issue.

“Visas are provided on the basis of people being compliant with those visas, and that doesn’t ­in­­clude committing crimes. And so we take a very strong view about this,” he said.

The Prime Minister added, however, that Australia would handle individual cases with “sensitivi­ty”.

Australia adjusted its laws in 2014, which led to a spike in deport­ations of people with criminal records who had New Zealand citizenship.

Visa cancellations on character grounds spiked in the 2016-17 finan­cial year, at 1284 cancellations, and came down last financial year, to 907 cancellations.

However, many people have attempted to appeal against the decision. Of the 1234 people whose visa was cancelled as a result of the laws in the 2016-17 financial year, about 78 per cent tried to get the decision overturned and 35 per cent were successful.