Australian immigration policies inhumane

Australia’s immigration policies have become notorious for New Zealanders. We have heard many stories of those who have become victims of a brutal and inflexible system.

Australian law was amended in 2014 to allow for the deportation of those who fail a ‘‘character test’’. Foreign-born nationals who spent more than 12 months in prison automatically fail. More controversially still, it can affect those who are merely deemed to have associated with criminal activity, such as war veteran Ko Haapu, who was sent back to New Zealand in 2016.

There was the sad case of Junior Togatuki who died in solitary confinement in a Sydney prison in 2015 as he waited to be deported. Togatuki had lived in Australia since he was 4 and had written to Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton before his death: ’’All my family live here in Australia. This is our home. Not New Zealand.’’

The Australian government’s unyielding position since 2014 is that it makes no apologies for enacting policies that ’’further protect the Australian community’’ from refugees and asylum seekers as well as former criminals and others. When criticisms of Australia’s tough immigration policies have been made on this side of the Tasman, one response has been that the country is free to decide its own laws.

Which is true, up to a point. But reports released this week by Australia’s Commonwealth Ombudsman Colin Neave have shown once again that immigration policies do not just create the potential for abuse but that human rights abuses have become almost inevitable.

New Zealanders are the most likely to be affected by the policy of deporting citizens of other countries who have committed crimes resulting in more than 12 months’ imprisonment. More than half of those who had their visas cancelled in Australia between 2014 and 2016 were from New Zealand – 697 people out of a total of 1219.

There were just 76 deportations in 2013-14, according to Neave’s findings. In the last financial year, the number jumped to 983.

The reports also showed that delays in the system have meant that New Zealanders and others have spent needlessly long periods of time in Australian detention centres. Neave called for new standard time frames to avoid unnecessary imprisonment.

His reports also revealed that the federal government had not cancelled visas far enough ahead of the release of prisoners, which undermined a policy of ‘‘giving primary consideration to the best interests of those who have young children and/or experience prolonged family separation’’.

In short, a policy that was already controversial and inhumane has been made even tougher on children and families as detainees.