New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister has taken aim at Australia for sending Kiwi criminals back to his country while Australians remain locked up in New Zealand.
Winston Peters, who is also foreign minister, called on the Albanian government to “show a little gratitude” to the Kiwis.
“Ned Kelly should show a little humility in this matter and not come in with the raw shrimp, 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 Down Under.
Mr Peters noted the positive economic impact Kiwi migrants bring to Australia.
He also highlighted the lack of repercussions for Aussies in general after Brenton Tarrant traveled to New Zealand on March 15, 2019, and murdered 51 people.
Tarrant was sentenced to life without parole after the massacre at the Al-Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch.
It was the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters, 79, criticized the federal government’s new direction 110, which aims to make it easier to deport criminal migrants to their countries of origin
Mr Peters said Australians would be wise to “show some gratitude” to Kiwi immigrants, 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 event ever committed by an Australian in New Zealand,” Peters told the newspaper. Sydney Morning Herald.
“I hate to think that we might be used for political purposes.”
Mr Peters urged the Albanian government not to strain their trans-Tasmanian relationship with its new immigration rule known as Direction 110.
Direction 110 aims to make it easier for administrative control officers to deport foreign criminals.
An earlier version, Direction 99, has already been scrapped after being blamed for releasing scores of criminals to Australia rather than deporting them.
Mr Peters said this type of legislation is not helpful in the country’s relationship with New Zealand.
That’s what he argued Australia was a ‘huge beneficiary of New Zealand’s education and skills system’ New Zealanders are among the highest-earning immigrants.
Mr. Peters is the leader of New Zealand’s conservative First Party and served as the country’s foreign minister for three terms, serving in the current government of Christopher Luxon. and the former National government of Jim Bolger, as well as the Labor government of Jacinda Ardern.
Mr Peters also criticized the Albanian government’s COVID investigation, which he called a “whitewash”.
He also took aim at the Albanian government’s Covid survey, which was released in October.
“You haven’t had a review, you’ve had a whitewash,” he said in Auckland.
“And I want to make sure this doesn’t happen in my country… we’re going to find out the truth.”
Health Minister Mark Butler defended the research, saying it was “very extensive” and that it “makes no sense at all”.
A New Zealand royal commission into the pandemic was established by Ms Ardern in 2022 and recently expanded by Mr Ardern Luxon, who is now Prime Minister.
Mr Peters demanded that their committee investigate the matter use of vaccines and vaccine mandates, the social and economic impacts of COVID policies, and whether shorter lockdowns could have been as effective in protecting public health.