A New Zealand citizen in Australian immigration detention says he hopes he will be the next person to be sent home after the who have served time in Australian jails.
Fifteen New Zealanders were flown out of Australia on Tuesday as the government restarted the deportation process following a pause due to COVID-19. Once they arrive in Auckland, the men will be forced to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
But while the New Zealand government has repeatedly expressed its disappointment with the policy, which has seen more than 2,600 Kiwis sent home between December 2014 and January 2020, many detainees say they are relieved to finally be going home.
“There is hope now that something is going on. You know the ball is rolling now. We are hoping that it's us next. We just want to go,” said Omar Meatoga, a New Zealand citizen who has been in Perth’s Yongah Hill Immigration Centre for two years and lived in Australia since 2005.
“Living in here is like living in limbo, you don’t know what’s going on.”
Under current Australian laws, visa holders who are sentenced to at least 12 months in jail face mandatory detention.
For New Zealand citizens who have spent the majority of their lives in Australia, however, deportation can see them returned to a country they have little connection to.
Earlier this year, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the policy, which she , and stated the policy had been "corrosive" to the relationship between the two countries.
Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison in Sydney. Source: Getty Images
Filipa Payne, a co-founder of Iwi n Aus, an advocacy group for New Zealanders in Australia, said that while many of the detainees are “relieved” to be let out of immigration detention, many were also leaving behind families and children in Australia.
“It's very challenging for them,” she said. “We have guys come back in, they try to carry on with their lives, they settle down, get a job if they're lucky. We have huge housing problems in New Zealand so unfortunately, we have a high percentage of people that are returning from deportation that are homeless and lonely."
On Monday, the New Zealand government confirmed they expected approximately 30 deportees to arrive in the coming days via charter flight.
A former bikie boss awaiting deportation from Melbourne’s Immigration Transit Accommodation told New Zealand’s Stuff media that the detainees were aware of the quarantine rules they would be expected to comply with on arrival.
"The guys here in Melbourne, we've had a good chat, and we know that there are rules in quarantine that we've got to follow and we also know that we've got to stick by – you know, you've got to obey the law there,” he said.
“Our boys know that what we do there could potentially slow the process for the boys coming after us.”
New Zealand Health Minister Chris Hipkins on Monday said he didn’t agree with upcoming deportations, but added that Australia was acting within its legal right.
"We're receiving them because we're obliged to receive them, but it would be wrong to say we're happy about it," he said.
The Australian government has repeatedly defended its policy, describing it as not country specific.
“We deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia against our community," Mr Morrison said earlier this year.
