Alarmed at the growing number of New Zealanders facing deportation from Australia, dual New Zealand-Australian citizen Erina Morunga decided to become a migration agent to take on some of their cases.
The Adelaide-based agent says she's been inundated with requests for help from Kiwis concerned they are going to be sent back for crimes they committed years ago even if they didn't go to jail.
Deportations have been a source of tension between New Zealand and Australia since the character test was strengthened in 2014 resulting in many long-term Australian residents being sent back if they'd been sentenced to 12 months jail for a crime.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly described the issue as corrosive, raising it as recently as last month during a visit to Melbourne.
But the Australian government is showing no signs of backing down.
Instead, Immigration Minister David Coleman is proposing to further tighten the rules to make it easier to deport tens of thousands more migrants on character grounds.
Under the planned changes, visa-holders who have committed a crime that carries a maximum sentence of at least two years, such as common assault, will automatically fail the character test, even if they are not sentenced to jail.
Adding to concerns about the proposed changes is that they'll apply retrospectively, meaning anyone who has committed a crime covered by the laws in the past could be deported on character grounds.
