Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has defended deporting a 15-year-old to New Zealand after a fierce backlash from across the Tasman.
Mr Dutton also said he stood by comments - which referred to the process of deporting people on character grounds - as “taking the trash out”.
It comes after Mr Dutton was sharply criticised by politicians and legal experts in New Zealand over the deportation of a minor.
Mr Dutton on Friday said he stood by the government’s deportation policy when questioned about whether it was appropriate to deport a 15-year-old.
“We send people back to countries all over the world and will continue to do that because my job is to act in the best interests of our country,” he told reporters.
“The decisions I'm making to deport criminals back to their country of origin, back to the country where they're born, is in our best interests.”
The boy was deported, alone, earlier this month, and it's understood he is the first minor to be sent back under the scheme.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern earlier this week also restated her concerns around the deportation policy, saying she “never agreed” with it.
“Of course we would have an expectation that, regardless of the background, we do treat minors in a particular way when we’re dealing with deportation,” she said.
“I have a specific objection to the fact that we have people being deported from Australia who we consider to be Australians."
Mr Dutton pointed to advice from ASIO Director General Mike Burgess about the capacity for young people to pose a “threat” as evidence to justify the deportation decision.
“The fact is that as the ASIO director general pointed out this week in relation to the crime type of terrorism we're seeing people younger and younger who are posing a threat,” he said.
“Whether you're a 15 or 16-year-old or a 26 or 56-year-old if you've committed a serious crime in our country then it’s appropriate that you're deported back to your country of origin.”
Mr Dutton was also questioned about whether he regretted his decision to describe those deported to New Zealand as “trash”.
“Now where I come from in the suburbs of Australia - somebody who's murdered his girlfriend's parents is trash and I don't apologise for that,” he said.
“But I'm not making a judgement about any individual country. Our policy as you know is country agnostic.”
Mr Dutton had made the remark in a Channel Nine news segment that aired last week, in which reporters were given access to individuals being deported to New Zealand.
New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister was among those to hit back at Mr Dutton’s comments, saying he “only serves to trash his own reputation” by making them.
Under current Australian laws, visa holders who are sentenced to at least 12 months in jail face mandatory deportation on character grounds.
For New Zealand citizens who have spent the majority of their lives in Australia, however, the practice can see them returned to a country they have little connection to.
The Department of Home Affairs has stated it approaches visa cancellations of minors with a “high degree of caution and consultation”.
It has also said it complies with “legal obligations in circumstances where the removal of a minor is considered.”
