Aussie charity offers Kiwis one-way ticket home
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Kiwis living on the Gold Coast who have fallen on hard times are being offered one-way tickets back to New Zealand.
The Nerang Neighbourhood Centre is offering the repatriation flights as New Zealanders are ineligible for governmental support for general homelessness.
Nerang Neighbourhood Centre general manager Vicky Rose told RNZ's Morning Report programme today that, for some people, a flight back to New Zealand was the only option.
"Our job is to put all the options on the table and we wouldn't be doing our job properly if we didn't put going back to New Zealand on the table.
"Often it's the only option for that person or family to be able to get financial support."
Rose explained the offer was "entirely voluntary", and not everyone took it. For some it took a few conversations before people came to the conclusion heading back to New Zealand was the best option.
"I always frame the conversation around, 'you haven't failed, in some ways the system has failed you.'"
The funding for the flights comes from the Queensland state government, and Rose said the Nerang Neighbourhood Centre had collaborated with other organisations across the Gold Coast and Brisbane to help people get back to New Zealand.
"It's emergency relief funding and it's for people in crisis when there's no other option."
Rose explained the decision was a tough one, as Australia had become peoples' home, regardless of how long they had been living there.
"We've helped dozens and dozens over the years, and there are two organisations affiliated to the Department of Immigration that also do this called Homeward and International Organisation for Migration.
"It's an issue, and I think it's going to become more of an issue given that rents here are astronomical and affordable housing is almost out of reach of working people. We have working people living in their cars here."
In 2023, a pathway to Australian citizenship was created, but Rose explained this wasn't an immediate or short-term fix as the process was costly and time-consuming.
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