Govt rushes law ahead of convict flight

Justice Minister Amy Adams defended the Government's response, saying the Australian law had been passed three days before Christmas, and she was first briefed on it in February. Photo / Mark Mitchell

An urgent law change could cover criminals due to arrive in New Zealand by charter plane this week - but serious offenders already deported here won't be monitored.

Under the new law, deportees will be monitored in the same way as if they had served prison time here.

Its introduction comes as authorities readied for the arrival of about 20 criminals on a flight chartered by the Australian Government.

Labour has slammed the Government for being much too slow to react to an Australian law change made a year ago, which saw non-Australians who were sentenced to a year or more in prison automatically lose the right to live in Australia.

Its foreign affairs spokesman, David Shearer, said the Government could only hope that the new regime was in place in time for the arrival of "Con Air".

"That is a disgrace, when this Government knew last year on December 14 that Australia had changed its laws.

"Here we are, with two weeks of Parliament to go and we are ramming through a piece of legislation that should have been written months ago.

"In the meantime, there have been dozens of people who have already come back. Some of those have come back on charter flights, chartered by the Australian Government who are too worried to put them on commercial flights."

Earlier, Justice Minister Amy Adams defended the Government's response, saying the Australian law had been passed three days before Christmas, and she was first briefed on it in February.

She said it was her understanding that murderers, rapists and child sex offenders were among the criminals who had already been deported to New Zealand this year.

They would remain under no obligation to co-operate with authorities, as the new law would not be retrospective.

Ms Adams said such deportees had arrived in New Zealand under successive governments, and this was the first time action was being taken to monitor them.

"Murderers, rapists and sex offenders have been coming to New Zealand unsupervised for years and years and years," Ms Adams said. "This is not a new issue. What we are now having is more of them."

She said it was important not to buy into hysterical media reports and "suggest that the public should be battening down the hatches".

The plane arriving this week will carry New Zealand citizens who have lodged appeals against their deportation from Australia.