By Troels Sommerville of 
A 21-year-old with a lengthy criminal history has been deported to New Zealand despite living in Australia almost his entire life. Photo: AFP
The Australian government is deporting a 21-year-old with more than 70 convictions to New Zealand, despite him only spending weeks in Aotearoa as a baby.
The deportation comes three months after an agreement between the two governments, which meant Australia would ease its approach to deportation by placing greater weight on how long someone had lived in Australia and their ties to the country.
Mahuta Tikirau Pihere, 21, has more than 70 convictions to his name, including for violent assaults.
At a hearing at the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal on June 5, it was noted Pihere arrived in Australia in 2001 "at about a month of age" and has lived there since.
Now he's been shipped to New Zealand under the controversial section 501 of the Migration Act - which has seen 2845 people deported from Australia between January 2015 and November 2022.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Australian minister for immigration Andrew Giles signed off changes to the deportation rules in March to give more weight to an individual's duration of stay in Australia, and, their ties to the country would be taken into consideration to avoid exporting criminals with no ties to Aotearoa.
But because of Pihere's extended criminal history of more than 70 offences between 2015 and 2020 - including a custodial sentence for a 2019 assault of a father and his 14-year-old son - his visa was cancelled.
Pihere and his co-accused attacked the duo in a 2019 assault after they got off a bus, leaving a person with two facial fractures.
In March 2020, Pihere was sentenced to 15 months in jail at the Sunshine Magistrates' Court for the assault - as well as ten counts of theft from shop, nine counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail, two counts of contravening a conduct condition of bail and criminal damage.
He told the tribunal there was "no one in New Zealand" he could rely upon for support and he had only been back when he was younger for family events, like funerals.
Despite appealing the decision, the tribunal found Pihere unfit to remain in Australia - discounting that his father, mother, brother and other members of his extended family had settled in that country.
"The Tribunal accepts that after living in Australia for most of his life, the Applicant would be confronted by a difficult period of transition in New Zealand," said the presiding member Andrew Nikolic.
"This includes because of his past crimes, a significant period in custodial settings, and lack of previous employment except for recent casual work as a scaffolder."
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins crossed the Tasman earlier this year where he met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - and the pair announced changes to the 501 rules.
In light of those new rules, Stuff asked Hipkins' office whether Pihere's deportation honoured the latest agreement.
A spokesperson from the Prime Minister's office said Australia had the right to make deportations.
The spokesperson said the government welcomed Australia's decision to take a "common sense approach, understanding that each case if different."
Speaking at his hearing, Pihere said he didn't feel like he was at high risk of re-offending.
"I feel like I'm not a risk to the community, to anyone, like I've grown up," he said.
"I've grown up from the past charges I've done and yeah, I don't want to go back to jail or whatever or get out or whatever and just go back to work."
* This story originally appeared on Stuff.
