There are major delays on Auckland motorways this morning as slow-moving carkois head into the city. Video / NZ Herald
Winston Peters is keen to discuss proposed changes to Australia’s deportation policy as soon as possible after an edict allowing a convicted rapist from New Zealand to stay in Australia caused outrage.
In a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministersaid he accepted 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 NZ, whose formative experiences were nearly all in Australia,” Peters said.
“We note Prime Minister Albanese’s previous commitment to take a “common sense” approach to deportation of people to NZ 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.”
It comes after a NZ man, known as CHCY, was allowed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, under Ministerial Direction 99, to keep his Australian visa despite being found guilty of raping his stepdaughter.
The 37-year-old man, who left NZ aged 17, raped the 14-year-old while her mother was in hospital giving birth.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a "common sense" approach to the country's deportation policy, taking into consideration a person's ties to Australia.
Ministerial Direction 99 was an edict issued by Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles last year that said immigration officials and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal must consider a person’s ties to the community and time spent before cancelling a visa.
Shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan called on the Minister to explain why he refused to rescind Direction 99 in light of CHCY’s offending
“To rape a stepdaughter while your partner is giving birth in hospital – what it shows is that ministerial direction (99) is clearly failing,” Tehan told Sky News.
“I don’t think that you could get a worse example that that ministerial direction is clearly failing and that is why it needs to be rescinded.”
The edict has caused controversy as it resulted in visas being reinstated for convicted rapists, drug smugglers and kidnappers.
According to , a man jailed for choking the mother of one of his children was allowed to stay in the country by the AAT, and weeks later allegedly murdered a man in Brisbane.
Now, the Albanese government wants the tribunal to take a stronger line when considering deportations.
Facing repeated questioning from the opposition in the Australian parliament, Giles said he would look to appeal the decision of the tribunal in multiple cases where the direction had been used.
He said the Australian government had cancelled the visas of CHCY and other foreign nationals convicted of offences but had been overruled by the tribunal.
“This was a visa that was cancelled and remained cancelled by my department in line with the ministerial direction,” he told parliament on Tuesday.
“I believe it is a decision that should still be cancelled and ... I have prioritised a number of cases for urgent cancellation consideration.”
Relations between the two countries became strained during the previous coalition government following a ramp-up of deportations from Australia under section 501 of the country’s Migration Act.
It allowed Australia to cancel any person’s visa if they have a “substantial criminal record”.
Australia’s new Labor government announced a “fairer” and “common sense approach” to the country’s deportation policy, now taking into account the person’s ties to the country.
