Morrison must do right thing

There are times when it seems the thing a young Scott Morrison might have learned best during his time heading up New Zealand’s Office of Tourism and Sport more than 20 years ago was how to kick for touch. When it comes to doing the right thing by New Zealand, anyway.

The Australian prime minister has understandably enraged his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, in the wash-up to the arrest of a woman suspected of being an Islamic State terrorist, with the news that Australia revoked the New Zealand-born woman’s citizenship last year. Named by ABC as Suhayra Aden, of Melbourne, the 26-year-old was arrested with her two children when trying to enter Turkey.

The woman, who lived here until she was 6, before moving with her family to Australia, is understood to have travelled to Syria in 2014 on an Australian passport. She had three children to two Swedish men who are both now dead. One of her children is believed to have died of pneumonia.

On Tuesday, Ardern said she had raised the woman’s status with Morrison, but accused him of then acting in bad faith by unilaterally cancelling her citizenship, effectively making her New Zealand’s problem.

‘‘You can imagine my response . . . New Zealand is, frankly, tired of having Australia export its problems. But now there are two children involved, and so we have to resolve this issue with the interest of those children in mind,’’ she said. The deportation of some Kiwis living in Australia for decades, who have committed criminal offences, has been one of several bones of contention between the two countries.

Speaking on RNZ about the latest stoush, Otago University professor of international relations

Robert Patman said the Australians had shown ‘‘hypocrisy and a lack of strategic realism in dealing with this problem’’. ‘‘I think the prime minister’s worked hard, as far as we can gather, to persuade Mr Morrison in private, but that has had no effect.’’

Talks between Australia and New Zealand are understood to be ongoing, and Ardern’s office has described a call between the PM and Morrison on Tuesday night as ‘‘constructive’’. Whether that will ultimately see Australia meet its moral obligation, however, remains to be seen.

Morrison has gone on record as saying Australia’s security is his first priority, which is fair enough, but that doesn’t excuse the Australians’ less-than-transparent handling of this situation, or relieve it of responsibility.

As Islamic Women’s Council member Anjum Rahman pointed out on RNZ, the woman’s family will be in Australia. ‘‘We know that any successful rehabilitation and deradicalisation works better if there’s family support.’’ The woman would not have arrived in Australia radicalised, as a 6-year-old. ‘‘However her thinking was shaped, it happened in Australia.’’ Indeed, the worst criminal in New Zealand’s history was at least partially radicalised in Australia.

There will undoubtedly be Kiwis who would like New Zealand to take the same step as Australia but, children aside, she cannot be left stateless, so it’s not an option. In any event, it’s clear New Zealand would not do that, especially with children involved. But it wants Australia to do the right thing, not an unreasonable expectation.

Whether it will worry him unduly or not is another story, but it shouldn’t be difficult for ‘‘Scotty from marketing’’ to understand that the way this situation has been handled thus far is not a good look for ‘‘the lucky country’’.

... it’s clear New Zealand would not do that ... But it wants Australia to do the right thing