Little to visit Kiwi detainees in Australia

“There was a broad acceptance that there is some unfairness in the way the rules are being applied, and a willingness to look at that and make some refinements to the policy that’s been in place since 2001”.

Mr Little says he’s discovered through meetings with Australian MPs in New Zealand that they don’t know much about the situation.

“They accepted there was work to be done, [but] we also heard a view that if Kiwis didn’t like it, they could go home”.

An estimated 250,000 to 350,000 New Zealanders in Australia are on special category or temporary residency visas that offer little in the way of welfare safety nets, and no path automatic path to permanent residency or citizenship.

Hundreds of New Zealanders are being held in various detention centres in Australia, under a law that allows non-citizens who have served prison sentences of more than a year to be held indefinitely while a decision is made on whether to deport them.

Indeed, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed that 12 New Zealanders who have had their Australian visas cancelled have already been deported having been put on a chartered flight from Melbourne to Auckland Airport.

The not for profit group Oz Kiwi, advocating for New Zealanders living in Australia, will go to Canberra on Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th November to meet with Federal politicians and connect with two visiting New Zealand politicians. “They are very welcome to become Australian citizens, and strangely majority say “no I’m going to go back to New Zealand at some point”, he told reporters.

One New Zealander who was fighting his deportation had been held there for three years and described his situation as very bleak, he said.

Before entering Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, Mr Little said he understood another plane with some Kiwi deportees had arrived or was due to arrive in New Zealand imminently.

The detention prompted consternation from the New Zealand government and Prime Minister John Key has voiced his displeasure to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, but said he does not see a change on the horizon.

“The issue of closer ties with New Zealand is one beyond any limited expertise I might have, but as an observer…”

Mr Little says New Zealanders, despite paying taxes, are denied benefits funded through general taxation. Some have lived in Australia most of their lives. Some New Zealanders are being held on Christmas Island facing deportation after relatively trivial offences. He defended the lobbying trip to Australia, amid criticism from NZ Prime Minister John Key that Mr Little’s intervention may jeopardise his government’s diplomacy efforts. On same visit student loan access for Kiwis who spent childhood in Australia announced.

Australian Labor MP Jim Chalmers said the system was unfair, and it needed to be cheaper and easier for New Zealanders to become citizens.