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Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says some New Zealanders may be staying in Australian detention centres because of a broken promise over travel costs.
Ms Turei says last month Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton promised that detainees who returned to New Zealand could pursue their appeals from here, and that they would not be billed for the costs of deportation.
But the new form detainees must sign if they want come back includes the first promise, but leaves in the liability for removal costs.
That can be several thousand dollars for detainees on Christmas Island.
"The New Zealand Government is saying that even though (detainees) have to sign the form to come home that says they have to pay, it's just a paper debt and they will never be asked to repay it, but that's not true because it's a legal form so they do have a legal debt there, they can't just rely on politicians’ promises," Ms Turei says.
She’d also like to see data on detainees’ ethnicity, which the Australian government doesn’t collect.
FULL INTERVIEW: METIRIA TUREI
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