Peter Godfrey and Selwyn Manning.[/caption]
Across The Ditch: Selwyn Manning and Peter Godfrey deliver their weekly Across The Ditch bulletin. This week: NZ’s Prime Minister John Key says Australia’s Incest deportee should stay in Australia + Rugby World Cup Update – Recorded live on 22/10/15.
ITEM ONE: Australia Moves To Deport Incest Offender Prime Minister John Key has challenged Australian immigration law saying a women who is about to be deported to New Zealand should stay in Australia and is Australia’s problem. The woman is identified as Betty Colt, who allegedly was member of an incest community. News reports in New Zealand allege Colt was part of a “40-strong group that lived in squalid conditions near Canberra. In 2012, authorities took away 12 children and testing revealed that only one had parents that were not related”. The New Zealand Herald reported yesterday (Wednesday) that the children, who were under-fed, hardly went to school and lacked basic skills such as how to shower and clean their teeth”. The children later spoke of suffering sexual abuse. Key told the New Zealand Herald: “I think there is quite a solid argument to say that while she was born in New Zealand, she has lived her life there, and she has been a product of the Australian system,” Mr Key said. (ref. NZHerald.co.nz) The outburst came just days after John Key entertained Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Auckland. During their first bilateral leaders’ meeting, Key failed to pressure Turnbull into addressing the immigration issue where approximately 200 New Zealand citizens are currently detained, some at Christmas Island, pending the outcome of appeals to their deportation orders. One month ago Key issued a staunch message to Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop while attending the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York. Then, Key said New Zealand and Australia had a special relationship, founded on our shared war experiences as ANZACs. He insisted that Kiwis be treated differently to those of other nationalities. But last weekend, after a week with pressure building for Key to get a result on this issue, his message to Turnbull was watered down and impotent. Both politicians exited their meeting looking like their friendship had been consummated rather than challenged. And again, Key failed to deliver or broker a resolution to the festering deportation issue. ITEM TWO: The Rugby World Cup Update What the pundits are saying The form The games coming up. Should be fun… Across The Ditch broadcasts live on Australian radio FiveAA.com.au and webcasts on EveningReport.nz LiveNews.co.nz and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.]]>
