Deportation of a minor: how a 'corrosive' policy sank cosy relations between Australia and New Zealand

Jacinda Ardern has long criticised the policy and now the deportation of a 15-year-old boy has seen calls for Australia to be referred to the UN

They may be close allies, but the latest flare-up in a long-running diplomatic standoff between Australia and New Zealand has seen relations between the two nations hit an all-time low.

The source of the friction is a controversial deportation policy which Australia uses to deport hundreds of New Zealanders every year. Part of the country's hardline and oft-criticised immigration policies, the dispute resurfaced last week when the Australian home affairs minister Peter Dutton used a television interview to refer to the policy as taking the trash out".