New Zealand’s deputy prime minister has taken aim at Australia for deporting Kiwi criminals back to his country while Aussies remain locked up in NZ.
Winston Peters, who is also foreign minister, urged the Albanese government to ‘show a bit of gratitude’ towards Kiwis.
‘Ned Kelly should show a bit of humility on this matter and don’t come the raw prawn with us, to use an Aussie expression,’ he said.
The Albanese government has been working on tightening immigration and visa laws so that it is easier to deport foreigners if they commit crimes while Down Under.
Mr Peters made a note of the positive economic impacts Kiwi migrants bring to Australia.
He also highlighted the lack of repercussions to Aussies-at-large after Brenton Tarrant travelled to New Zealand and murdered 51 people on March 15, 2019.
Tarrant was jailed for life without parole following the massacre at the Al-Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch.
It was the worst terror attack in New Zealand’s history.
‘Dare I say it: on March 15th, we had the worst terrorist event ever committed by an Australian in New Zealand,’ Mr Peters told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I hate to think that we might be being used for political purposes.’
Mr Peters urged the Albanese government not to strain their trans-Tasman relationship with its new immigration rule which is known as Direction 110.
Direction 110 aims to make it easier for administrative review officials to deport foreign criminals.
A previous version, Direction 99, has already been scrapped after it was blamed for releasing countless criminals into Australia instead of deporting them.
Mr Peters said this type of legislation was not helpful in the country’s relationship with New Zealand.
He argued that Australia had been a ‘massive beneficiary of New Zealand’s education and skills system’ as New Zealanders are amongst its highest-earning immigrants.
Mr Peters is the leader of New Zealand’s conservative First Party and has been the country’s Foreign Minister for three terms, working in Christopher Luxon’s current and Jim Bolger’s former National government, as well as Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government.
He also took aim at the Albanese government’s Covid inquiry which was released in October.
‘You guys haven’t had a review, you’ve had a whitewash,’ he said in Auckland.
‘And I’m out to make sure it doesn’t happen in my country… we are going to get to the truth.’
Health Minister Mark Butler defended the inquiry saying it was ‘very comprehensive’ and that it ‘doesn’t pull its punches at all’.
A New Zealand royal commission into the pandemic was established by Ms Ardern in 2022 was recently expanded by Mr Luxon who is now prime minister.
Mr Peters demanded their commission examine the use of vaccines and vaccine mandates, social and economic impacts of COVID policies and if shorter lockdowns might have been equally effective in protecting the public health.