16 Mar 2021

Teen deported from Australia not a 501 - Foreign Minister

From Checkpoint, 5:30 pm on 16 March 2021

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has defended her decision not to give the Prime Minister a heads up about the deportation of a teenager from Australia.

The 15-year-old is in managed isolation and is being supported by two Oranga Tamariki staff, onsite.

The circumstances around the deportation of the minor - described as 'complex' - are still being kept private, but Ms Mahuta has signalled he's not a 501 deportee.

It's just the latest incident to ratchet up trans-Tasman tensions, which the Opposition says haven't been so bad since the Muldoon years.

Here's RNZ political editor, Jane Patterson.