Funding boost to settle Australian deportees

Corrections chief executive Ray Smith said a grant of $100,000 would be given to Auckland-based PARS. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A one-off grant has been given to an organisation that helps former prisoners reintegrate into society and was buckling under the strain of helping deportees from Australia.

Corrections chief executive Ray Smith said a grant of $100,000 would be given to Auckland-based PARS.

The service had only received funding to help reintegrate domestic prisoners, but had still helped deportees sent from Australia.

That had been manageable until recently - it helped about 32 newly-arrived Australian deportees in the past three months, compared to around 60 in the 12 months before that.

"Corrections recognises that some New Zealanders being deported to New Zealand need help," Mr Smith said.

"Many of these offenders have not lived here for many years or decades. Many have no family or other support.

"This funding will be used to provide a responsive service to help deportees access the assistance they need. It is a short-term solution, until June 30 2016."

PARS staff will meet the deportee at the airport, and help the person sign up to bank accounts, benefits, an IRD account and arrange immediate accommodation. That support is ongoing.

It recently helped a tetraplegic man sent to New Zealand after 36 years living across the Tasman.

He was extradited last month under a controversial new Australian law which allows foreign nationals who have served a year or more in jail to be deported.

Prime Minister John Key hosted his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull in Auckland last weekend, and pushed for the threshold at which Kiwis were deported to be softened.

That should be done in recognition of the special relationship the two countries have, Mr Key argued.

However, Mr Turnbull declined to do so, saying it was Australia's "absolutely legitimate sovereign right" to revoke visas should the holder commit a crime.

He promised to put more resources into the appeal process so it could be carried out more quickly, and to clear a backlog that had resulted from the law change in December.