Transcript
The former Nauru opposition MP Roland Kun is to settle in New Zealand after fleeing Nauru on a newly minted New Zealand passport.
Mr Kun has been unable to leave Nauru for more than a year after his Nauruan passport was seized amid accusations he had taken part in anti-government protests outside parliament which he denies.
He had applied for New Zealand citizenship in December last year in order to join his family in Wellington.
Mr Kun's lawyer Claudia Geiringer told Sally Round about his sudden exit from the troubled island country.
CLAUDIA GEIRINGER: Ah well in December last year we applied to the minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne for citizenship for Roland, NZ citizenship. He hadn't been in NZ long enough to be eligible under the ordinary criteria but there is provision in the citizenship act for a grant of citizenship. In exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian or other nature where those circumstances render it in the public interest for a person to be given New Zealand Citizenship.
So we made the case that there were those circumstances in Mr Kun's case and we've just been sitting and waiting, and finally just a fortnight ago we heard that the citizenship application had been granted. We managed to get a passport into the country within 48 hours into Nauru. And Roland just presented himself at the airport it was the day after the election, everyone was hung over. He waited until the very last minute, slipped through customs, got on the plane and he tells me that he thinks at the point of departure, the Nauru government did not know he was on the plane.
SALLY ROUND: So he was quite concerned that even with a New Zealand passport he might not be able to board that flight?
CG: We were concerned. Obviously it would have been illegal for the government to stop him getting on flight but we weren't convinced that was the end of the analysis. There was also the possibility that if they knew he was going to get on the flight they might have found a reason to arrest him, trumped up some charges against them, and once that happened and he was under arrest he wouldn't have been able to leave even with an NZ passport.
SR: The humanitarian grounds you talked of that enabled him to get the passport can you elaborate on that a bit?
CG: Sure I can't tell you what the minister's ultimate reasons were because we simply were told that the application had been granted. But the case that we made centred primarily around the situation of his family. The fact that this is a man who was - until his forced detention if you like on Nauru was the primary caregiver to these three very young children, his youngest daughter was only 18 months old when he left and had barely been separated from him for a day in the first 18 months of her life. So it really was a humanitarian tragedy that this man was being forced to stay in Nauru and couldn't be reunited with his family and that was at the core of our case we also argued that there were other non-humanitarian circumstances that made it in New Zealand's public interest for the couple to be allowed to remain here, that they're very very intelligent, wonderful people who have made huge contributions to the various societies they've lived in, and Katy his wife is an extremely talented parliamentary drafter who is very highly respected in her field so it wasn't just a humanitarian case but it's fair to say it was primarily a humanitarian case.
SR: Those criminal charges that the Nauru government had been facing, but he hadn't been charged had he can you explain what had happened in the last few months?
CG: No he's never been charged, no absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing. They've never had any ability to charge him because he's never done anything. They claimed that he in some way instigated a protest outside Parliament a year ago that got out of hand. But Roland in fact had actually chosen not to attend that protest when he became concerned that it might get out of hand. He had made the decision that he didn't want to be involved, and there really has been nothing that they could charge him in relation to.
SR: So what happens now? Mr. Kun has no chances of going back to Nauru is he just going to be settling her in New Zealand?
CG: Well that of course was the family's intention anyway. They already had effectively had to leave Nauru because Katy his wife was kicked out of the country by the government although she is entitled as of right in the constitution to Nauruan citizenship. Her application for citizenship made two years ago or longer has never been determined. So they had intended to settle in New Zealand, and they're extremely happy with that decision. But you're right he doesn't have a Nauruan passport anymore although he still is a Nauruan citizen, even if he wanted to visit he couldn't, but there is no way he would take the risk I don't think of going back there until there is a change of government sometime in the future.
SR: Has he expressed how he feels about that to you?
CG: No, I have had one very brief conversation with him. I spent yesterday sitting, biting my nails. We had heard from a witness that he was on the plane, but I couldn't quite believe it so we sort of had to wait until the plane got to Brisbane, and somebody saw him emerge into the arrivals area. And since that time I've been really trying to just let him try and make the connection with his family and I've spoken with him very briefly just to get his permission to make the press release, and speak to the public, but we're just trying to give him the space now to spend time with his three beautiful children.
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