Second Class Citizens !

The offer from New Zealand to take a hundred and fifty of the refugees stranded on Nauru is a generous gesture that should be welcomed by Australia, but once again their fate hinges on a promise that was instrumental in stopping the flow of " boat people ".   That declaration that illegals arriving after a cut off date would never be permitted to live in Australia required credibility and is the reason that otherwise perfectly acceptable people - including little children - seem doomed to remain forever in what are really " internment camps " offshore.

To keep that promise, Australia would need New Zealand compliance to ensure that when these people settle in that country and gain New Zealand citizenship they would be forever barred from obtaining a New Zealand passport and using it to move to Australia.  Basically, if granted that would reduce the status of those people from Nauru to second class New Zealand citizens.   They would lack the rights that are accorded to all native born New Zealanders !

There is another possibility that could ensure the same result.  There are existing restrictions that apply to New Zealand people arriving in Australia, even if it is for a short holiday.  They are required to make a customs declaration that includes any prison term served or convictions recorded and a crime history sees entry refused.  It would be quite feasible for those with a past history of detention on Nauru to be permanently listed for entry to Australia to be refused.

The obvious weakness in such a protocol is that many with a cumbersome family name shorten it to more easily fit western tongues and these refugees from Nauru will most likely  merge into New Zealand anonymity over a period of time, and obviously their children born in New Zealand should not be subjected to such an entry ban.

The thing Australian politicians fear is the publicity that someone from Nauru who was settled in New Zealand and managed to make the move to Australia would generate - and possibly restart the people smugglers cramming refugees from the camps in Indonesia onto leaky boats for transfer to Australian shores.

That risk is overstated.  The refugees in camps in Asia are well aware that negotiations seek to clear the camps on Nauru by sending people to the United States or New Zealand, and that any new arrivals will suffer the same fate.   The conditions in those camps on Nauru are widely known and the fact that people languish there for years is a very good reason not to take a chance in a leaky boat.

Those camps on Nauru can not remain indefinitely.   They are well past their use by date in the eyes of many Australians and they are fast becoming an embarrassment.  This New Zealand offer should be accepted with gratitude and the risk accepted.   The fact that Australia has not changed the terms that apply to boat arrivals will deter a resumption of the trade !