The Australians are upset with Andrew Little and are throwing Donald Trump type tantrums to show their displeasure.
What has he done to attract their displeasure? He accused the Australian Government of having a deportation policy with what appears to have a venal, political strain.
The policy relates to a 2014 law change which increased the Minister of Immigration’s powers to cancel the visas of Kiwis, including those who have lived in Australia for extended periods of time who who are deemed are not of “good character”.
The change of policy has meant that many kiwis have been thrown into custody, separated from family and removed to a country they may not have any links with.
The cases are numerous but include a 17 year old held in an adult detention centre for non violent offending against International Treaties protecting young people, as well as the case of Ko Hapua and Lee Tepuia, both who were deported because they belonged to motorcycle gangs that were not actually illegal.
Tepuia’s case in particular is jaw dropping. He had lived in Australia since 2005 and his youngest daughter was an Australian. His forcible removal from his wife and four children has had a devastating effect on him.
And he kept winning in Court yet despite this Dutton kept cancelling his visa and not telling him why.
When you also consider the appalling treatment that refugees have been subject to in Nauru you get an overwhelming feeling that people are being harassed and humiliated by Dutton and Co for political gain.
It is strange that the welcome mat should be laid out for South African farmers. I wonder what characteristic they have which refugees and kiwis being deported don’t have?
Dutton’s response to criticism suggesting that the motivation may have been just a tiny bit racist is typical of him. The following is from this Radio New Zealand article:
A day after Mr Dutton publicly revealed the plans, Canberra’s High Commissioner in South Africa was hauled in for a diplomatic ticking off.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale also labelled the Minister “racist” and argued the resettlement would amount to a return to the White Australia policy.
Mr Dutton said he was unfazed by the commentary.
“There’s lots of outrage from some of the crazy lefties at the ABC, The Guardian and The Huffington Post can express concern and draw mean cartoons about me and all the rest of it – they don’t realise how completely dead they are to me,” he said.
“That’s the reality; if people think I’m going to cower or take a backwards step because of the nonsense fabricated fake news criticism, then they’ve got another thing coming.”
His response to Little’s very valid critisism also reveals a lot about his character:
Speaking to 2GB’s Ray Hadley in Australia today, Dutton said Little might want to “reflect a little more” on the trans-Tasman relationship.
“There’s a lot that we do for New Zealand … . We’re a big land mass between them and boats coming from Indonesia and Southeast Asia,” Dutton said.
“New Zealand don’t contribute really anything to the defence effort that we’ve got where we’re trying to surveil boats that might be on their way to New Zealand. So I hope that Andrew Little reflects a little more on the relationship between Australia and New Zealand where we do a lot of the heavy lifting. We intercept boats which stop them from making their way to New Zealand.
“There’s a lot to this relationship and I was really disappointed in Mr Little’s comments during the week. I hope that he doesn’t repeat them,” Dutton said.
I hope that Little does repeat what he said. His comments were a completely accurate assessment of Australia’s current policy. And Australia’s treatment of Kiwis as well as refugees is utterly appalling.
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