Hon Amy Adams
Minister of Justice

Register to keep tabs on deported offenders up and running

Efforts to improve the oversight, supervision and support for offenders deported to New Zealand, particularly from Australia, are making good headway, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.

“The Government is working hard on three pieces of work to make sure agencies are well positioned to support deported offenders, and minimise potential risks to public safety. We’re making good progress on all three work streams,” says Ms Adams.

A register of deported offenders is now up and running for use by New Zealand government agencies. It lists people who have been, or are about to be, sent back to New Zealand after being convicted of a crime, serving a prison term or having their visa cancelled on character grounds.

“The register will provide New Zealand authorities with greater oversight of who exactly is arriving here and when,” says Ms Adams.

The new register builds on current efforts to manage deported offenders, which see Police provide their districts with information received from other countries. This ensures that local police have all the relevant information available about individuals who may settle in their district.

“The register is the first of three initiatives to help deal with this issue,” says Ms Adams.

“Justice officials across a number of agencies have been tasked with developing a legislative supervision regime for offenders who are deported to New Zealand after serving a prison sentence overseas. In my view, we need the ability to impose similar monitoring and other conditions to those that would have applied if the sentence had been served in a New Zealand prison.”

Officials across a number of agencies are also developing a formal information sharing agreement with their Australian counterparts about such offenders, which Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott agreed in February to develop.

“The proposed supervision regime will require more detailed information about deported offenders so that conditions can be tailored to their particular circumstances. This requires the co-operation of our Australian counterparts, and I’m hopeful the agreement will be finalised in the coming months.”

The three work streams underway to strengthen New Zealand’s oversight of deported offenders are:

1. A register to track and monitor the deportation of offenders (complete)

2. Developing a legislative supervision regime for offenders (in development)

3. Creating an information sharing arrangement on trans-Tasman deportations which would enable New Zealand and Australian authorities to monitor deportations across the Tasman (in development).

ENDS

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