Yeah, it’s because NZ is a small country and flies under the radar.

Unless a cute little “awwww” penguin gets lost and strays on the capital’s runway, holding up flights, then it’s global news. . I like penguins, by the way.

I might do a hat tip somewhere, to raise awareness about the topic.

People are gonna have to swim an awfully long way to cross the border……one of the things I’m thankful for is that because of the so called “tyranny of distance” border security just isn’t a problem here. I lived in the UK for 22 years, compared to NZ it’s an absolute shitshow there. Any reasonable debate about immigration and borders there can be viewed as being racist or extremely right wing. So you have to be careful about who you talk to about the situation. It’s crazy.

The issue here is more about how many people we let in to meet labour market conditions and that’s a pretty objective and civilised debate nationally amongst left and right wing leaning people. It’s a given that illegal immigration very rarely occurs. Airlines are legally required to remove passengers who don’t meet requirements, so they’re very careful about who they allow onboard.

You meet new kiwis, they are just as keen to have secure borders as the “locals.” Because they worked hard to make it here, they want everyone else to adhere to the same rules as they did. It’s about fairness. My mate Toby’s wife got citizenship recently, she’s much more intense and vocal about the issue than we are. Toby and I find it quite amusing.

When I arrived back In September ‘21, I was only allowed back in because I was a NZ citizen. No people without any connections to the country allowed. The border was effectively closed. To my amazement, the border at the time was actually managed by the NZ defence forces. There’s not many countries in the world where the armed services are trusted enough to temporarily have full control of the borders on behalf of the government. No one here thought it was a big issue.

And the defence forces were really hard core. Some Germans sailed in, because they were worried about finding a safe harbour during the cyclone season in the South Pacific. Apparently they didn’t think Fiji or other islands were safe enough. They were deported and their boat was seized and sold to defray costs. I don’t recall any objections being raised in the media or with people generally regarding what happened.

Exactly.

Former Gloriavale residents described the experience as being “Treated as slaves” when giving evidence.

The situation was described correctly by the court as forced labour.

A lot of the arguments put forward by Gloriavale were dismissed by the judge.

Judge Inglis raised concerns about a document called What We Believe - a roadmap for life within Gloriavale.

"Loud alarm bells ought, in my view, to have been ringing from even a cursory reading of What We Believe and various other documents," she said.

"That is because the documentation makes it very clear where the power lies; that the leadership group holds absolute power and control, including in relation to work, and that members of the community submit to the leaders; and that members were not to report concerns to external agencies."