New Zealand’s deputy prime minister has taken aim at Australia for deporting Kiwi criminals back to his country while Australians remain locked down in their homeland.
Winston Peters, who is also foreign minister, urged the Albanian government to “show a little gratitude” to Kiwis.
“Ned Kelly should show a bit of humility in this matter and not come down with raw prawns on us, to use an Australian expression,” he said.
The Albanian government has been working to tighten immigration and visa laws to make it easier to deport foreigners if they commit crimes while in Australia.
Peters noted the positive economic impacts Kiwi immigrants bring to Australia.
He also highlighted the lack of repercussions for Australians in general after Brenton Tarrant traveled to New Zealand and murdered 51 people on March 15, 2019.
Tarrant was sentenced to life in prison without parole following the massacre at the Al-Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch.
It was the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters, 79, criticized the federal government’s new Directive 110 that aims to facilitate the deportation of criminal immigrants to their country of origin.
Peters said Australians would do well to “show some gratitude” to Kiwi migrants, especially after the 2019 Christchurch massacre carried out by an Australian in New Zealand.
“Dare I say it, on March 15 we had the worst terrorist act ever committed by an Australian in New Zealand,” Mr Peters told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“I hate to think they could be used for political purposes.”
Peters urged the Albanian government not to strain its trans-Tasman relationship with its new immigration rule known as Direction 110.
Directorate 110 aims to facilitate administrative review officers to deport criminal aliens.
An earlier version, Direction 99, was already scrapped after it was blamed for releasing countless criminals into Australia rather than deporting them.
Peters said this type of legislation did not help the country’s relationship with New Zealand.
He argued that Australia had been a “major beneficiary of the New Zealand education and skills system”, as New Zealanders are among the highest-earning immigrants.
Peters is the leader of New Zealand’s Conservative First Party and has been the country’s Foreign Minister for three terms, working in Christopher Luxon’s current party. and Jim Bolger’s previous National government, as well as Jacinda Ardern’s Labor government.
Peters also criticized the Albanian government’s COVID investigation, which he called a “cover-up.”
He also pointed to the Albanian government’s Covid research that was published in October.
“You haven’t had a critique, you’ve had a cover-up,” he said in Auckland.
“And I want to make sure this doesn’t happen in my country…let’s get to the truth.”
Health Minister Mark Butler defended the investigation, saying it was “very thorough” and “doesn’t pull any punches at all.”
A New Zealand royal commission into the pandemic was set up by Ms Ardern in 2022 and was recently expanded by Mr. Luxon, who is now prime minister.
Mr. Peters demanded that his committee examine the vaccine use and vaccine mandates, the social and economic impacts of COVID policies, and whether shorter lockdowns could have been equally effective in protecting public health.