The moral case for the former Manus island detainee becoming a citizen is as simple as \u2018asylum is a human right\u2019<\/p>\n
I wonder if it winds up Peter Dutton to know that Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish-Iranian journalist, award-winning author and former Manus Island detainee, is a free man in the continent\u2019s orbit. Boochani, the best-known witness, critic and victim of Australia\u2019s offshore \u201cprocessing centres\u201d, remains in New Zealand after his 30-day visa came to an end. No one quite knows what the No Friend But the Mountains<\/a> <\/a><\/em>author is planning next<\/a>, but it seems safe to assume that sooner or later he\u2019ll lodge an application for asylum in New Zealand. A permanent reminder to Dutton, his predecessors and the country\u2019s immigration detention system that they are not as close to vanishing the \u201cboat people\u201d problem as they might have thought.<\/p>\n For their part New Zealand\u2019s policymakers fear as much with headlines suggesting if Boochani\u2019s hypothetical asylum application is successful it could \u201cfuel tensions with Australia\u201d. The problem is Behrouz Boochani, New Zealander, would enjoy free movement between his new home and his old incarcerators, unless Dutton and the gang insert new exceptions in the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. This is the \u201cback door\u201d the Coalition government in Canberra is so afraid of, and the political problem preventing Scott Morrison from taking up Jacinda Ardern\u2019s invitation to resettle the last remaining detainees on Manus.<\/p>\n