November 18, 2015
Greens abstain on deportee monitoring bill
The Green Party wants more information on the New Zealanders being deported from across the Tasman so they can assess whether Australian officials are using racial profiling in enforcing its tough new visa policies.
Parliament sat under urgency this morning to push through the Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill.
A planeload of deportees is expected tomorrow, and they’ll be quizzed at the airport and set reporting conditions even though they have served their Australian sentences.
Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says her party is abstaining from the bill, because it wants a greater focus on support to help the people integrate with society and stay on the right side of the law.
She says most of the people caught up under the tightened law, which cancels the visas of those sentenced to as little as one year in prison, were in for offences like drug possession, petty crime or driving while disqualified.
"David Shearer keeps talking about it as Con Air. It's not Con Air. We are not getting huge planeloads of people released out of prisons wo are ferociously dangerous criminals. We are just getting ordinary people who made mistakes when they were younger, got themselves into a bit of trouble and now find themselves wrenched out of their homes, away from their jobs and their kids and sent back to a country they don't feel they belong to," Ms Turei says.
The Maori Party backed the bill.
Co-leader Marama Fox says some offenders returning to Aotearoa have committed serious crimes and the safety of whanau and communities is paramount.
She says the party was consulted on the new supervision regime and provided advice about the need for deportees to have adequate support when they return to Aotearoa.
She remains opposed to the Australian government’s hard line stance on detention and deportation.
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