EDITORIAL
Few starker examples can be found of Australia's immoral policy of deportations than Lionel Allan.
The once-promising Kiwi child actor so impressed with a one-time appearance on Hercules, he was written into the recurring role on a hit teen drama.
The self-confessed party boy moved to Australia in 2005, at 22 years old, to find work and knuckle down. Instead, he racked up arrests for theft, burglary, and other charges between 2007 and 2011.
In May 2013, after a night out drinking in Kings Cross, Allan reacted to a disparaging remark about New Zealand by punching three men. The first fell backward and hit the ground unconscious with a severe traumatic brain injury.
At sentencing, the judge remarked Allan "strikes me as, at core, a decent person with a lot of positive qualities". But the mandatory sentence of one year in prison consigned Allan to deportation.
He successfully lobbied the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia for a second chance in 2016 with his wife and their young child.
And this is where the Australian policy breaks like a wave on New Zealanders living there, washing ashore here. Following a public outcry about "savage thugs" and "cretins" dodging deportation after feeding the tribunal "sob stories" and "porkies", Allan was taken into custody in June 2017 and sent to a containment camp pending deportation to New Zealand.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.One of almost 2500 deportees to have arrived between 2015 and 2020, Allan is back before our courts on burglary and theft charges. But what chance did he have here, away from his family?
Last week, Robert Ayson, a professor of strategic studies at Victoria University of Wellington, told the Listener the two countries sometimes resemble "allies, not friends". And it's no wonder.
Despite Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pointing out Australia needed to "stop exporting its problems", our neighbours have instead renewed their efforts.
If re-elected, Morrison is likely to press on with making deportations even easier with the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2021. His opponent Anthony Albanese has given no indication of rolling it back. The overriding fact is the so-called 501 policy is popular with Australians across the political spectrum.
But its corrosive effect on the Anzac spirit is lamentable and Australians should reflect on that tomorrow.
