Our Kiwi cousins can be a wee but prishus at times.

Take this week’s visit across the ditch by PM Scott Morrison for example.

Kiwi PM Jacinda Adern allegedly “lashed out” at Australia’s determination to send home Kiwis convicted of criminal activities here.

“We talked about deportations of New Zealanders,” Arden announced.

“In my view, this issue has become corrosive in a relationship over time.

“I’ve made it clear that New Zealand has no issue with Australia taking a dim view of newly arrived non-citizens committing crimes.

“But equally, the New Zealand people have a dim view of the deportation of people who move to Australia as children and have grown up there, with often, little or no lasting connection to here.

“It is a matter we will continue to discuss.”

Her outrage no doubt brought a wry smile to the face of fellow new parent and “former” Kiwi Barnaby Joyce, perhaps in the middle of a challenging nappy change.

Joyce, who was born here but suffered the misfortune of a Kiwi father, knows only too well the potential difficulties of dual citizenship.

Despite any other failings, Joyce never had any lasting connection with his father’s birthplace.

However, he was outed by the gratuitous intervention of an obscure Kiwi lawyer whose motivations remain unfathomable to this day.

Joyce was unceremoniously deported from New England, causing a by-election at considerable expense to Australian taxpayers, many of whom took a dim view of New Zealand’s interference in Australia’s political affairs.

No doubt many Kiwis who migrated here and have spent most of their lives here are grateful for the opportunities dual citizenship provides them.

When legal problems arise, those circumstances can provide a convenient evasion clause.

Joyce has since renounced his unintentional Kiwi citizenship, an option available to all Kiwis who have settled here under the accommodating residential arrangements between our two countries.

However, like their other PM, they need to understand the privileges and pitfalls of dual citizenship can be a two-way street.

Let the discussions continue.

Ross Eastgate blogs at Targets Down.

Illustration: Aaron Graham/Facebook.

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