WELLINGTON, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand lawmakers from across the political spectrum on Friday called on the leaders of Australia and New Zealand to act to stop the Australian government's indefinite detention of New Zealand citizens.
Under a recently introduced Australian law, non-citizens jailed for more than a year can be held indefinitely while a decision is made on whether they will be deported.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is expected to raise the issue with visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in talks in Auckland over the weekend.
Turnbull is making his first overseas visit as prime minister to New Zealand just amid a controversy over his government's deportation of hundreds of New Zealander citizens.
New Zealand's Parliamentary Human Rights Committee on Friday called for immediate government action in support of the New Zealand-born Australians who had been detained, especially those who have been sent to Christmas Island detention center off the northwest of Australia.
The four committee co-chairs from opposition and government parties said the detainees were reportedly being denied their rights to legal assistance, contact with family and protection from arbitrary detention.
The committee issued a statement saying there was a breach of natural justice when people who had completed prison sentences were detained as criminals and threatened with deportation to a country they may well have little connection with.
The committee urged the New Zealand government to proactively advocate for the affected New Zealanders to achieve the same rights that foreign citizens would be extended in New Zealand if they were facing deportation.
The co-chairs believed the matter was of the utmost urgency and expect the two prime ministers to immediately work to find a just solution to "this intolerable situation."
