ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
New Zealand is a nation of migrants. Most of us have stories of ancestors arriving here from somewhere else, courageously setting out to seek better lives and opportunities for their children. Indian migrants are a more recent part of the trend that makes up New Zealand today.
Some of my forebears arrived here having taken a treacherous journey on a boat—one was an unaccompanied 12-year-old taking his chances in the 1800s. Imagine the nerve that long journey took for someone so young.
With this in mind, an extraordinarily sad and disturbing report was released by Amnesty International this week. It alleged cash payments were used by Australia to stop a boat of asylum seekers from seeking safety there or attempting the voyage to New Zealand.
Not only were people-smugglers paid to take the asylum seekers back to Indonesia but also the asylum seekers were removed from their safe boat, put into smaller, more dangerous boats, and left without the fuel required to reach their destination. They’re very lucky lives were not lost.
The group apparently included children and a pregnant woman: people seeking a better life. If Australia didn’t want to offer them that, there are safe legal channels they should have used.
Meanwhile, how implicated is New Zealand? The boat was trying to reach our shores. Did our government know about it? It’s hard to believe John Key didn’t.
Regardless of whether he knew about it at the time, he must know now. He should be having a quiet word with the Australian Prime Minister that New Zealand disagrees with Australia’s actions—and pointing out they are illegal.
But he seems to be staying silent. After all, two years ago he made a deal with Australia. They would stop any asylum boats coming to New Zealand and in return Australia would pass on to us 150 refugees a year as part of our quota. In other words, we gave up the right to choose who we want to take and handed those decisions to Australia.
Why give up our ability to choose who we take? After all, no refugee boats have ever made it to New Zealand—or even seriously attempted it. What did we get out of the deal other than to schmooze up to the Aussies?
So we are closely linked to Australia on asylum seekers.
It is important then that John Key assures New Zealanders that his government was in no way implicated with Australia’s apparent policy of paying people-smugglers to keep refugees from its borders. Instead, there should be a full independent inquiry into the matter.
New Zealand is a nation of migrants. Most of us have stories of ancestors arriving here from somewhere else, courageously setting out to seek better lives and opportunities for their children. Indian migrants are a more recent part of the trend that makes up New Zealand today.
Some of my...
New Zealand is a nation of migrants. Most of us have stories of ancestors arriving here from somewhere else, courageously setting out to seek better lives and opportunities for their children. Indian migrants are a more recent part of the trend that makes up New Zealand today.
Some of my forebears arrived here having taken a treacherous journey on a boat—one was an unaccompanied 12-year-old taking his chances in the 1800s. Imagine the nerve that long journey took for someone so young.
With this in mind, an extraordinarily sad and disturbing report was released by Amnesty International this week. It alleged cash payments were used by Australia to stop a boat of asylum seekers from seeking safety there or attempting the voyage to New Zealand.
Not only were people-smugglers paid to take the asylum seekers back to Indonesia but also the asylum seekers were removed from their safe boat, put into smaller, more dangerous boats, and left without the fuel required to reach their destination. They’re very lucky lives were not lost.
The group apparently included children and a pregnant woman: people seeking a better life. If Australia didn’t want to offer them that, there are safe legal channels they should have used.
Meanwhile, how implicated is New Zealand? The boat was trying to reach our shores. Did our government know about it? It’s hard to believe John Key didn’t.
Regardless of whether he knew about it at the time, he must know now. He should be having a quiet word with the Australian Prime Minister that New Zealand disagrees with Australia’s actions—and pointing out they are illegal.
But he seems to be staying silent. After all, two years ago he made a deal with Australia. They would stop any asylum boats coming to New Zealand and in return Australia would pass on to us 150 refugees a year as part of our quota. In other words, we gave up the right to choose who we want to take and handed those decisions to Australia.
Why give up our ability to choose who we take? After all, no refugee boats have ever made it to New Zealand—or even seriously attempted it. What did we get out of the deal other than to schmooze up to the Aussies?
So we are closely linked to Australia on asylum seekers.
It is important then that John Key assures New Zealanders that his government was in no way implicated with Australia’s apparent policy of paying people-smugglers to keep refugees from its borders. Instead, there should be a full independent inquiry into the matter.
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