Australia returns to tough stance on NZ-born 501s - Inside the policy's impact on deportees

The Australian government is pivoting to a stricter stance on deporting so-called "501s" - people with criminal histories who had mostly grown up in Australia but were born in New Zealand.

The new directive, effective from today, takes a U-turn on previous commitments made by the Australian government in 2022 to prioritise considering a person's links to Australia in visa decisions.

Between January 2015 to January this year, 3,128 people were deported from Australia.

While not all of them were "501s", over a third were no older than 19 when they left NZ. Just over 200 were no older than nine.

Today on The Front Page, founder of Road 2 Redemption and former "501", Mark Talanoa, discusses the implications of this new directive.

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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

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