As I wrote not long ago, I am not a New Zealander. Back then, I was referring to a proposal floated by Jacinda Ardern and Anthony Albanese, to allow Australians and New Zealanders to vote in each other’s elections. Such an idea is wrong on so many levels, not least that our two countries have spent over a century forging separate if related, identities.
Still, both countries have a long history of trans-Tasman crossovers, ever since Captain Cook sailed from New Zealand to Australia’s east coast. Historically, though, the exchange has been notably lopsided, with Australia’s economic opportunities proving an irresistible lure for many Kiwis.
But Australian attitudes hardened somewhat over the past two decades, with Australia notably deporting many NZ-born criminals. Another bone of contention was that illegal boat arrivals barred from settling in Australia were using New Zealand’s far more lax rules as a backdoor means of entry. Case in point: country-shopping fakeugee Behrooz Bouchani who was supposed never to be allowed to stay in Australia, simply played the Ardern government to be let into New Zealand — and has now snuck into Australia to play his leech act, probably for good if the limpwristed Albanese government has anything to do with it.
But Boozy’s not the only grifter with an eye on Australia’s generous welfare system finding a backdoor to exploit.
Kiwis have been quietly lobbying the Australian government to allow them to become citizens again for the first time in more than two decades by joining the Labor Party.
New Zealand residents in Australia have, since 2001, been denied a pathway to citizenship and Centrelink benefits.
Labor’s already throwing open our borders to every leeching country-shopper from Sri Lanka to Iran, so why wouldn’t they?
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Friday reiterated a promise for a new policy to be decided by Anzac Day on April 25.
‘This has been a big issue for a long time, and I wanted to acknowledge it in this forum – the difficulty that so many New Zealanders have getting on a pathway to citizenship in Australia,’ he told the Australian Banking Association and the Trans-Tasman Business Circle lunch.
‘The intention is for those issues to be resolved, and for a new way forward to be settled, by Anzac Day – so in a few months’ time.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had been working on the issue with former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern and had continued that dialogue with her Labour successor Chris Hipkins.
Just in case Labor’s feral open-borders lobby doesn’t get the job done, Kiwi country shoppers are finding a loophole to exploit.
When Labor was in Opposition in Australia, New Zealanders wanting citizenship urged other Kiwis to join the Labor Party to effect change.
Vicky Rose, the co-ordinator of the Nerang Neighbourhood Centre on the Gold Coast, in 2020 urged other Kiwis like herself to become ALP members as New Zealanders who lost their jobs were denied welfare payments […]
Until the citizenship rules change, Kiwis can stay in Australia indefinitely but they don’t have an easy path to citizenship, under a special visa category for New Zealanders, known as subclass 444.
This loophole, however, allows them to join a political party.
Notably, a political party that’s notoriously ready to take the cash — literal Aldi shopping bags full, in China’s case — and stack the branches.
‘What do you think a political party needs? They need numbers: 647,000 Kiwis live in Australia.’
All those membership dues are having the desired effect.
Mr Albanese flagged a faster pathway to residency and citizenship for New Zealanders living in Australia in July, just two months after Labor won the election.
Daily Mail
Never underestimate the power of a politician’s greased pocket.
