Nauru MP's family settling in NZ after wife's visa withdrawn

Transcript

A Nauru MP, one of three suspended by the island's government, has been settling his family in New Zealand after his wife's Nauru visa was withdrawn.

Roland Kun plans to commute for is parliamentary work but he says they will continue to push to have the visa re-instated.

Mr Kun explained to Don Wiseman how they ended up in New Zealand.

ROLAND KUN: My wife hs just taken a job here. We are going to be enrolling the kids there.

DON WISEMAN: Your wife is a Kiwi?

RK: No my wife is Australian but she applied for a position in New Zealand and has accepted.

DW: We have seen reports that you fear your wife will not be allowed back into Nauru.

RK: Yes well my wife is currently not allowed back on the island. Her visa has been withdrawn. We have now applied for citizenship. She is entitled to citizenship by law because she is married to me as a Nauruan citizen and the Government is to approve that but that is actually an entitlement guaranteed by the Nauru Constitution and the Government has not responded on that and we have been waiting a couple of months.

DW: When was the visa withdrawn?

RK: The visa was withdrawn towards the end of last year. We were in Australia at the time. There was no notification to ourselves. We were told by my colleagues on the island that the visa had been withdrawn. We had to contact the airline to get confirmation that the visa had been withdrawn and it was provided. The airline was already given notice that Catherine was not to travel back to Nauru on the basis that the visa had been withdrawn.

DW: How long had she been living on Nauru?

RK: Over six years. We had been rebuilding a house on the island and we have been pretty much looking forward to establishing ourselves there permanently but that is not to be.

DW: And your children were born on Nauru?

RK: My first two were born on Nauru. My third child was born in Australia.

DW: You see this as the end of the road, at least for your wife as far as Nauru goes and you are going to go down a different road?

RK: We are going to pursue her citizenship. That is an entitlement that we are going to pursue, even if the Government is not going to act in accordance with the law in that regard. We are going to pursue that in the courts, but my wife applied for a position in New Zealand before the visa was withdrawn because she had been unemployed. Even before then the Government had removed her from her role as Parliamentary counsel on the island.

DW: What explanation has there been?

RK: There has been no explanation. There have been allegations for the withdrawal of the visa - there's been statements made in Parliament that Katy has been badmouthing the Government and has been sabotaging Government in her role as advisor to Bendigo Bank when Bendigo Bank was looking at establishing a presence on the island. This of course is nonsense. The Government had failed to perform its part in regards to Bendigo Bank and was looking for a scapegoat and as for her removal from her position of Parliamentary counsel there has been no explanation provided.