Work continues with Australia on deportees

Justice Minister Amy Adams and Immigration and Police Minister Michael Woodhouse have today met with Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in Sydney to continue discussions around the deportation of New Zealanders.

“The issue around the deportation of New Zealanders from Australia is a significant issue for us and this meeting was an opportunity to continue to work through our ongoing concerns,” Ms Adams says.

“It’s been important to hear more from the Australians about how they are managing this issue. We also sought additional information around how Australia is giving effect to the undertakings given by Prime Minister Turnbull.”

“I have previously worked with Minister Dutton to ensure the flow of information around deporting offenders, which resulted in the introduction of an information sharing arrangement,” Mr Woodhouse says.

“The introduction of an information sharing arrangement last month was a critical step. I acknowledge Minister Dutton’s ongoing commitment to share information to assist New Zealand’s oversight of offenders subject to deportation and to assist with our proposed new supervision regime announced earlier this week,” Ms Adams says.

“I also welcome his confirmation today that they have doubled resources in order to speed up the appeals process.”

Today's meeting of Ministers follows the meeting between Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this month.