CANBERRA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of Australia and New Zealand have stressed the importance of the friendship between the neighbouring nations following a meeting on Friday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, for the first time since winning re-election in Melbourne.
The pair discussed the Australia-New Zealand relationship and Ardern's concern about Australia's policy of deporting New Zealanders convicted of criminal offences even if they have spent most of their lives in Australia.
"I totally accept that it is within Australia's rights to deport those who engaged in criminal activity in Australia but there are some examples that will not make any sense to any fair minded person," Ardern told reporters after the meeting, according to The Australian.
"We can't take our friendship for granted. We can't take our closeness for granted. If there is something that is causing concern for one side of a friendship it should be raised. So we have done that.
"New Zealanders look at this policy and just think it is not fair dinkum."
Speaking ahead of the leaders' meeting, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told Nine Network television that the policy would not be changed.
"We need to stand up for Australians," he said. "And the New Zealand Prime Minister is rightly doing that for her people.
"But where we've got Australian citizens who are falling victim in certain circumstances where people are sexually offending against children, for example, we've had a big push to try to deport those paedophiles," said Dutton.
