Oz changes ‘breach deal’

Australia’s new citizenship rules appear to breach the good faith in which an agreement was signed between the two countries last year, Labour leader Andrew Little says.

He described the immigration changes as “very disappointing” for the hundreds of thousands of expats across the ditch, especially as they came in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday that anyone wanting citizenship must have been a permanent resident for four years — up from one year.

It has left some Kiwi expats fuming because it comes just two months before a new pathway to citizenship is made available for New Zealanders who arrived in Australia after immigration rules were tightened in 2001.

Under a deal between Turnbull and former Prime Minister John Key last year, Kiwis earning more than A$53,000 for five consecutive years could apply for permanent residency and, a year later, citizenship. They will now have to wait at least three more years, meaning some expats will have spent 10 years in Australia before they can become citizens.

Little said yesterday that the citizenship pathway signed off last year was a “vital” agreement. “If that has now been effectively scuttled, or more obstacles put in the way, it would seem to be a breach of the good faith . . . If that’s the case then that is certainly very disappointing.”

Of the 300,000 Kiwis who have arrived in Australia since 2001, about 100,000 are believed to be eligible for the pathway to citizenship. But because it was not available until July, none has been able to apply yet.

Little said many were “working their butts off” in Australia yet “never [got] the reward of citizenship”.

Prime Minister Bill English said he wanted to fully understand the proposals before he raised any concerns with the Australians.