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The Australian government has deported a 15-year-old boy to New Zealand, considered the first minor to be sent back through Tasmania.
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern knew nothing about the impeachment until the media called him out.
The landing of a flight from Brisbane to Auckland last week reignited a dispute over Australia’s tough application of a populist immigration policy that has dogged diplomatic relations since 2014.
Nine
The flight from Australia brought a new group of deportees to Auckland last week.
The teenager’s expulsion will further increase tensions, with an Australian lawyer suggesting that Scott Morrison’s government has violated international law.
READ MORE:
* Australian Minister Peter Dutton ‘shatters his own reputation’ by insulting New Zealand deportees, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta
* When Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under pressure, a touch of ‘kiwi attack’ works well
* Product of Australia
The boy was now in a managed isolation facility, but separated from other deported New Zealanders.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was not informed about the deportation of a minor from Australia last week.
His background and circumstances were said to be “complicated” and “messy.”
A spokesperson for Orange Tamariki did not respond to questions from Thingsbut said in a statement: “Oranga Tamariki has been working extensively with relevant authorities in both Australia and New Zealand to support the arrival of this young man to New Zealand.”
You are currently in a managed isolation facility and are supported while you quarantine.
“Due to the age and privacy considerations of this young man, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Speaking at the post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, Ardern said he was not aware of the deportation until calls from Things earlier that day.
Typically two weeks before deportations, the Australian Border Force shares the details of deportees with their New Zealand counterparts in police and corrections. This includes your criminal history and any gang ties.
It is not clear if that happened in this case.
Ardern said it did not receive that breakdown.
She has asked officials for a briefing and wants to see the circumstances of the deportation. “At this point, those who need to know do,” Ardern said.
Morrison “knows my position” in politics, he said.
Last week Peter Dutton, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, was interviewed for a Nine News Channel report on the deportations and said: “The garbage is being taken out, so we can make Australia a safer place.”
Things
Peter Dutton, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, said of the deportees: “It’s taking out the garbage, then we can make Australia a safer place.”
Nine were allowed to film deportees being escorted on a flight to New Zealand, and a reporter goaded them saying, “Our country doesn’t want you, are you excited to go home?”
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said Dutton’s comments “only serve to destroy his own reputation.”
More than 2,000 citizens have been sent back to New Zealand, although the wave of deportations has slowed during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Australian government signaled in 2018 that it was prepared to change the law to begin deporting those under the age of 18.
That presented New Zealand with an additional headache. Legally, minors cannot be subject to an adult supervision regime for deportees established in 2015.
Officials, led by Oranga Tamariki, began working on an “interdepartmental plan” to handle this new problem. It is unclear if that was ever finalized.
Things he knows of two cases in which the Australian government has tried to return a minor, but failed due to the intervention of the courts.
Foreign and Justice Ministers Winston Peters and Andrew Little publicly addressed the case of a 17-year-old, and Little appeared on an Australian current affairs program.
The decision was later reversed by the Administrative Appeals Court, the body that handles visa cancellation appeals.
Leading immigration attorney Greg Barns represented the 17-year-old, who was removed from Sydney and placed in an adult detention center in Melbourne. He had lived in Australia since he was ten years old.
“Deporting an unaccompanied child is simply inhumane and a clear violation of Australia’s international obligations, including the convention on the rights of the child,” he said.
“No child should be deported. And the fact that the minister described that child as part of taking out the trash just shows how devoid of humanity this current government is.
“New Zealand would do well to view Australia as a human rights pariah on this issue.”
The police refused to answer questions from Things about deportation and would just say, in a written statement: “All deportees have the right to privacy and as such we are unable to provide any information.”
Mahuta declined an interview request, citing privacy reasons. In a statement, he said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was providing consular assistance to a minor detained in Australia, including making appropriate arrangements for the care of a minor.
“For privacy reasons, no further information will be provided.”
