Abroad: NZ’s roll of shame

many underage hookers – OK, I got caught in a sting; I thought they were older. Both were tall... I thought old enough, no problem.’’

One of his victims told Channel 4 she was not a prostitute and Brailsford had groomed her after seeing her at the beach.

The rap sheets of other Kiwis on the Government’s list include robbery, fraud, sex crimes, manslaughter and drugs charges. One New Zealander is serving a sentence of more than 20 years for murder in the United States.

The $18.28 million in spending on those in prison offshore included providing detained citizens with a list of Englishspeaking lawyers, alerting the arrested person’s family in New Zealand and in some cases, attending a final court hearing.

Almost half of the detained Kiwis receiving MFAT assistance were locked up in Australian jails – many facing ‘‘unknown’’ sentences.

Labour’s Corrections spokesman, Kelvin Davis was uncomfortable with that.

‘‘There are New Zealanders locked up in both prisons and detention centres who have not committed any crime, but who the Australians simply don’t like or trust.’’

Amnesty International campaigns director Meg de Ronde also had concerns.

‘‘It’s not just people fleeing war zones and horrific persecution in their home countries who are being detained for long periods – New Zealanders are being detained on Christmas Island and in onshore Australia jails for extended periods due to immigration issues.’’

Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully said the detention of Kiwis in Australia was ‘‘a matter of ongoing discussion between our two governments and has been raised at the highest levels’’.