Deportee struggles in Kiwi home

In 2017, handcuffed and disoriented, Adrian Maere stepped off a plane and on to an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Squawking sea birds, lush tropical vegetation and blue seas were juxtaposed with an extensive metal building surrounded by razor wire.

Maere had arrived at Australia’s immigration detention centre on Christmas Island.

He was three days away from finishing a six-month prison sentence for breaching an intervention order. For the next 18 months, Maere, 59, lived in a tiny unit he described as a ‘‘hell worse than prison’’.

He was fed a daily diet of chicken and rice, and shared his cell with four other males.

Maere saw a man in his unit sew his mouth shut, and another who tied a towel to his head and set himself alight.

‘‘There is only so much you can take,’’ Maere said.

‘‘You can’t think, you are in limbo, you are stuck. You do not

Former Christmas Island detainee Adrian Maere, pictured.

have access to a lawyer, hardly anyone does.’’

Maere and other deportees shared their stories yesterday at a meeting of about 50 people in Ma¯ngere held to discuss Australia’s tough deportation rules.

The assembly included immigration lawyers, members of both New Zealand’s and Australia’s Human Rights Commissions, and several social agencies.

New Zealand detainees also joined the conversation via a visual audio link from detention centres across Australia.

Maere lives in Christchurch but does not have any close ties in New Zealand. He said he found life lonely in his birth country.

‘‘Even though I am Ma¯ ori, it is not home to me.’’

He has siblings, some he does not speak with. His daughters and friends live in Australia but because he was deported under section 501 of Australia’s Migration Act, he can never go back. Almost 2000 people have been deported to New Zealand since Australia began enforcing a hardline immigration policy in late 2014. Those who appeal the cancellation of their visas are locked up in detention centres, sometimes for years, while their case is decided.

Any non-citizen sentenced to 12 months in an Australian prison is subject to deportation – even if they completed their time behind bars years ago.

The changes made to Australia’s Migration Act in 2014 included the deportation of a foreigner who is or may be a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community.

It also included section 501 – deportation if a person was ‘‘not of good character’’.

The deportees – many of whom have not lived in New Zealand for decades – are blamed for a rise in violent, organised crime.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was immigration minister at the time the policy was introduced.

Maere moved to Australia almost four decades ago for a job in the wool industry. He played professional rugby, bought a house and started a family.

He was also charged with drink-driving in the 2000s but did not serve jail time. He initially fought to stay but after being moved to his third detention centre in Melbourne, he signed the removal orders and was sent back to New Zealand six months ago.

‘‘There is only so much you can take. You can’t think, you are in limbo, you are stuck.’’