It is ironic that Australia's Government has implemented a barbaric deportation policy showing that they have forgotten, in just over two centuries, their origins and the fact that their country was built with convict labour by citizens who were deported from England.
One would think that they would have more empathy for refugees and those citizens who have relatively minor infringements.
After all, a lot of Australia's ancestors were deported for stealing a heel of bread or some fruit or a trout and had to leave their family behind when they were transported half way around the world.
Is this so different to being taken to isolated Christmas Island or being dumped in New Zealand in a wheelchair with no family support or money?
Let's hope that our Government is more sympathetic to people who wish to become NZ citizens, at least allowing them to stay as a family unit and allowing them to feel as though they are equal and not second class citizens.
Marie Kaire
Ngararatunua, Whangarei
