Jacinda Ardern doubles down on comments to Scott Morrison on deportation

Jacinda Ardern has admitted that her ‘Love Actually’ moment with Scott Morrison was completely toothless. 

New Zealand’s prime minister made headlines around the world when she laid into Morrison outside the Opera House on Friday.

She slammed him for deporting Kiwi criminals back to New Zealand no matter how long they have lived in Australia.  

Ms Ardern has always argued that people who have lived in a country for 10 years or more shouldn’t be deported after committing a crime.

‘Send back genuine Kiwis, do not deport your people and your problems,’ she told Mr Morrison during an emotive and tense press conference.

But speaking to TVNZ’s Breakfast show on Monday, the prime minister admitted that there was nothing she could do to convince Morrison to adopt her standpoint. 

The encounter between the two prime ministers was dubbed the ‘Love Actually’ moment in reference to a scene in the popular film.

Hugh Grant who plays the role of the British prime minister blasts Billy Bob Thornton who plays the American president while standing side by side at a press conference. 

A clip from the press conference between Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern went viral on Twitter with the hashtag #LoveActually.

On Monday, Ms Ardern said that while Mr Morrison ‘stuck to his guns’ on the deportation policy, she also stuck to hers.

‘Anyone who watched the full standup, you’ll see that the prime minister stuck to his guns and I stuck to mine. He has a pretty entrenched view of this but so do I, on behalf of New Zealanders,’ Ms Ardern said on the breakfast show. 

‘We don’t object to countries having deportation policies – New Zealand does. We do deport individuals who have lived here for a small amount of time and who it’s clearly an issue which should be best dealt with through deportation.

‘But when someone is essentially a Kiwi, then we own that problem. That’s all we’re asking that Australia does.’

When asked if there was anything New Zealand could do to make Australia own their problems, the prime minister said they may in turn ‘erode’ the rights of Australians living in New Zealand.

‘There’s the option to erode the rights of Australians who live here. But I’m not keen to do that because I don’t think a race from the bottom actually gets us any further to dealing with the principle of this issue,’ she said.

The prime minister said that there were New Zealanders who had lived in Australia all their life and had raised children there – but were now being deported.

In a tense row between Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern on Friday, the New Zealand prime minister slammed Australia’s deportation laws 

‘A woman who I had met that had been deported to New Zealand had moved to Australia when she was just over one year old. She has no connection to this country, a thick Australian accent and three teenage children in Australia,’ Ms Ardern said.

‘All we’re asking is deport Kiwis, keep Australians.’

Ms Ardern said that although Australia and New Zealand shared a ‘friendship’, she urged for the ‘friendship to extend beyond politics’.

‘There’s obviously a bit of politics in this over the other side of the ditch but I don’t think New Zealand should get caught up in that because we are paying the price, we are feeling the consequences of this policy,’ she said.

During the row on Friday, Ms Ardern noted that 2,000 people had already been deported. 

‘You have deported more than 2,000 individuals, and among them will be genuine Kiwis who do need to learn the consequences of their actions,’ Ms Ardern said.

‘But among those 2,000 are individuals who are too young to become criminals on our watch, they were too young to become patched gang members, too young to be organised criminals.

‘We will own our people. We ask that Australia stops exporting theirs.

Ms Ardern said that Kiwis who had been living in Australia their whole lives should not be deported

‘I want to conclude by just reaffirming something I have said often. We will continue to maintain rights for Australians in New Zealand.’

Mr Morrison shot the Kiwi PM an awkward glance, before responding: ‘We deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia.’

‘If you’ve committed a crime and you’re not a citizen of Australia then you have no right to stay.

‘We deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia against our community.’

New Zealanders who moved to Australia as toddlers, only to grow up and commit crimes, have been regularly dumped back over the ditch sparking anger from across the Tasman.

Australia has deported more than 4000 people, including 1500 New Zealanders, since the laws were introduced in 2014. 

Ms Ardern said that although Australia and New Zealand shared a ‘friendship’ she said her country was being affected by the deportation laws 

Ms Ardern argued that Kiwis who have spent years living in Australia don’t have a life or any foundations to return to when deported back to New Zealand.

‘The prime minister used a key word in his reference just now – he said that after they have served their time he sends them ‘home’,’ she said.

‘The example I used demonstrates that we have countless who have no home in New Zealand, they have no network, they have grown up in Australia. That is their home. And that is where they should stay.’

Despite the New Zealand prime minister’s best efforts, Mr Morrison held firm in his stance on the policy.   

AUSTRALIA’S TOUGH DEPORTATION LAWS

Under Section 501 of the Migration Act, a foreigner in Australia can have their visa cancelled on character grounds if they have been jailed for 12 months or longer.

Then there is Section 116 of the same law which gives the Immigration Minister the power to have someone deported if they are regarded as a threat to public safety.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton previously had this power but that responsibility now lies with Immigration Minister David Coleman.

Earlier this month, the High Court ruled in a four-to-three majority verdict that indigenous Australians could not be deported.

New Zealand-born Brendan Thoms, 31, who had lived in Australia since 1994, successfully challenged his deportation for a series of violent crimes committed in Queensland.

He is a descendant of the Gunggari people through his maternal grandmother.

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