“We want to work on these issues with all the implications there are for full participation in our respective societies.”
While New Zealanders can easily move to Australia to live or work without a visa, they enjoy different rights depending on when they arrived.
Different rules
Basically, New Zealanders living in Australia before 26 February 2001 can access social security payments and have the option to apply for citizenship.
But those who arrived after this time only have access to a limited number of payments, and in the case of grief, youth allowance or sickness allowance, they can only access it once in their working life for a maximum of six months.
A New Zealander can only apply for student loans if he or she arrived as a minor and lived here for 10 years. But they cannot join the Australian Defense Force or the federal public service, or even vote.
And one of the biggest mistakes is that they can’t access the National Disability Insurance System, even though they pay the fee for it.
Nor do post-2001 arrivals have a path to citizenship unless they change to another type of visa or are associated with an Australian, and even these options can cost citizens thousands of dollars.
New Zealanders who arrived before 1 September 1994 were automatically granted permanent residence, even if they had just come to Australia for a short holiday, and could apply for citizenship after two years.
“Economic deprivation”
In contrast to the mix of rules that apply to kiwis, Australian citizens living in New Zealand can vote after one year, claim welfare after two years and receive study aid after three years.
Joanne Cox, who chairs Oz Kiwi, a pressure group campaigning for change, said Australia’s “magic dates” approach had been unfair and encouraged “economic deprivation” and left many young people incapable. from going to college or vocational training because of the rules.
He said some 650,000 New Zealanders were living in Australia at any one time and an estimated 300,000 were in the post-2001 cohort.
Mrs. Cox welcomed Friday’s announcement.
“Now there is the political will to do something about it, and we are very encouraged to have a Labor / worker leadership because the coalition government had no will,” he said.
Albanese also confirmed the controversial policy of deporting New Zealand citizens who had been convicted of serious crimes would be softened, so that people who would otherwise have no ties to New Zealand and had actually lived their lives in Australia would not be expelled.
“This is exactly what we have asked Australia to do,” Ms Ardern said.
“What we have been looking for is common sense and the spirit of friendship. And that is what Prime Minister Albanese has said today. “
The prime ministers also announced that climate change ministers will be included in the annual talks between the economy, foreign and defense ministers, saying it would be an opportunity to share the benefits of innovations in the clean energy transition.