A New Zealand man has been deported from Australia under the controversial Section 501 visa cancellation policy, leaving his children behind after a pattern of repeat offending that included theft, shoplifting, and traffic violations.
The case, reported by RNZ, has reignited debate about Australia's hardline approach to deporting New Zealand citizens—even those who've spent most of their lives across the Tasman and have children who are Australian citizens.
Trans-Tasman relations at their worst
Mate, this is what the so-called "special relationship" between Australia and New Zealand has become: Canberra using Section 501 to export people it doesn't want back to Wellington, regardless of how long they've lived in Australia or what ties they have there.
The man in this case had lived in Australia for years, built a life there, had Australian children. But under Section 501 of the Migration Act, Australia can cancel the visa of any non-citizen who fails the "character test"—a broad standard that includes anyone with a substantial criminal record.
In practice, this means New Zealand citizens who've lived in Australia since childhood, who barely remember New Zealand, who have no family or support networks in New Zealand, are being put on planes and told to start over in a country that's foreign to them.
The one-way street
Here's what makes this particularly galling for New Zealand: the arrangement is completely asymmetric. Australia deports thousands of New Zealand citizens every year under Section 501. New Zealand? It doesn't have an equivalent policy.
So Australia sends its "problems"—many of whom are barely Kiwis at all—back to New Zealand, which then has to deal with people who often arrive with no housing, no job prospects, no family support, and sometimes serious gang affiliations developed in Australian prisons.
The question that keeps coming up on New Zealand forums: why doesn't Wellington implement its own Section 501? Why can't New Zealand deport Australian criminals the same way?
The answer is partly practical—there are far fewer Australians living in New Zealand than vice versa—and partly political. New Zealand doesn't want to escalate the situation. But that restraint hasn't earned much goodwill from Canberra.
The human cost
This latest case highlights the human toll of Section 501. The man being deported leaves behind Australian children who will grow up without their father. Yes, he committed crimes. Yes, he was warned. But the punishment—permanent exile from his children—seems disproportionate to the offenses, which were property crimes and traffic violations, not violent felonies.
For the children left behind, their father becomes another casualty of a policy that treats long-term residents as disposable when they make mistakes.
Wellington's powerlessness
New Zealand has complained about Section 501 for years. Prime ministers have raised it in bilateral meetings. Officials have pointed out that it violates the spirit, if not the letter, of Trans-Tasman cooperation. Australia nods politely and keeps deporting people.
The reality is that Wellington has very little leverage here. Australia is the bigger economy, the regional power, the country that matters more to Washington and other allies. New Zealand can complain, but it can't force change.
So the deportations continue. Australian politicians get to look tough on crime. New Zealand politicians get to look ineffectual. And people caught in between get their lives torn apart.
Mate, this isn't how allies are supposed to treat each other.
