David Shearer –
david.shearer@parliament.govt.nz
The relationship between Australia and New Zealand has always been close. As countries go, we are the best of mates.
We have fought in wars together, our troops are currently training together in Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders live in Australia.
It is a measure of our relationship that Australians and New Zealanders are free to live and work in each other’s countries without a visa.
Shocking revelation
It was therefore shocking to discover that Australia has started holding Kiwis indefinitely in Australian detention centres.
Some are even being sent to the notorious Christmas Island detention centre off the coast of Indonesia. Run by SERCO, it has been slammed by the Australian Human Rights Commission for sub-standard conditions and high levels of self-harm, depression and suicides.
Those held there have little contact with lawyers, no access to family members, and no word on when they would be released.
The imprisonment of a mounting number of Kiwis in these sub-standard detention centres is likely to constitute arbitrary detention without trial, which is illegal under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Australia is a signatory.
Law change
This new treatment of Kiwis follows a recent law change in Australia for non-Australian citizens who have served at least a 12-month prison sentence.
Fairness dictates that when you have done your time in prison you are released back to your community and family. But these people now face being deported back to New Zealand – a country many of them do not identify with, and have not seen since they were young children.
A month ago, Prime Minister John Key said he was waiting for details. Even Justice Minister Amy Adams described the new law as ‘wrong.’
How long are they planning to wait? Why don’t they just pick up the phone and get it sorted? Our government often tell us the closeness of its relationship with Australia.
Let’s see how close it is.
Meanwhile, these New Zealanders are stuck in limbo. While they are technically Kiwis, most have had little contact with New Zealand since they were children. They have spent their entire lives in Australia and have Australian partners and children who do not know when they will see their mum or dad again.
Death in custody
There has been at least one death of a young Kiwi in Australian custody.
Junior Togatuki’s death highlights the urgency for the New Zealand government to step up and defend the rights of Kiwis being held without process in Australia. It was a preventable tragedy. The government must seek an urgent explanation about why the 23-year-old, who had a recognised mental illness, was left unsupervised in solitary confinement.
In the same way, New Zealand has spoken out against Human Rights abuses in our smaller Pacific neighbours, we should be drawing world attention to those being committed by Australia.
We do not treat Aussies that way. Our two countries have always been close.
This injustice needs to be fixed, and fast.
David Shearer is Member of Parliament elected from Mt Albert Constituency in Auckland and is Labour Party’s Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Consumer Affairs.
