Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement
The arrangement is not expressed in the form of any binding bilateral treaty between Australia and New Zealand, but rather is a series of immigration procedures applied by each country and underpinned by joint political support.
On 22 January 1973, the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand (Gough Whitlam and Norman Kirk respectively) announced the basis for what would become known as the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement (or TTTA) in a joint communiqué that covered a wide range of issues including economic and defence cooperation, travel, South Pacific affairs, race relations and nuclear weapons testing.
[10] The negotiation of the details of the Arrangement (or Open Door Policy as it was then called) was announced on 4 February 1973 by the Australian Minister for Immigration, Mr. A. J. Grassby.
Two special emissaries of the Australian government (Mr. G. E. Hitchins and Mr. T. A. Smith of the Department of Immigration) visited New Zealand from 5–9 February 1973 to arrange the details of the implementation of the open door policy agreed upon by Prime Ministers Whitlam and Kirk.
Two weeks later on 15 March 1973, the New Zealand Minister for Immigration, Mr. F. M. Colman, and Mr. A. J. Grassby reviewed the revised travel requirements in Canberra and issued a joint press release on the exercise.
For the press release the Ministers recalled that under the relaxed procedures passports and prior authority to enter were not required for direct travel between Australia and New Zealand by:[11] It was also announced that in addition to the relaxed requirements for crossing the Tasman Sea all holders of New Zealand passports would in future be permitted to travel to Australia without prior authority.
[11] On 24 April 1981, Australian Minister for Immigration Ian Macphee announced that all people entering Australia (including New Zealand citizens) would be required to carry a passport as from 1 July 1981.
People involved in terrorism, drug trafficking or other illegal activities, could too easily pass themselves off as Australian or New Zealand citizens under the arrangement, representing a significant threat to society.
[11] "The passport requirement represents the option involving least delay and inconvenience to travellers among the various approaches which might have been taken to close off this loophole in Australian entry controls", the Minister said.
[11] The Australian government had considered and rejected the alternative of instituting intensive interrogation and baggage search of people crossing the Tasman.
It gives Australian citizens an indefinite stay in New Zealand, without restriction on work, study or re-entry under immigration legislation.
[16] To specifically cater for the continued free movement of New Zealanders to Australia, the Special Category Visa was also introduced on 1 September 1994 by the Migration Regulations 1994.
Under the 1994 regulations New Zealand citizens entering Australia are treated as having applied for a temporary entry visa, which is automatically granted (subject to health and character considerations) and recorded electronically.
[17] The 2009 Act and regulations re-confirmed the previous conditions necessary in order for Australian citizens and permanent residents to be allowed to live, work and study in New Zealand under the TTTA.
Those who were resident before or on 26 February 2001 may claim unemployment benefits as they are protected Special Category Visa holders under the Social Security Act.
They may qualify for benefits after applying to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship for a permanent visa and serving the two-year newly arrived resident waiting period.
The Australian government’s expectation was that the new rules would deter movement on the part of New Zealand citizens who could not meet the requirements for permanent skilled migration.
"[23]The Australian Dental Association has expressed in 2014 about the dental occupation that: "There is substantial oversupply in metropolitan areas as indicated by the number of applications received for each advertised position in both the public and private sector, the proportion of full-time to part-time work available and the number of dentists who report difficulty in obtaining full-time work."
[25][26][27] While Australian officials have defended the tougher deportation measures, their New Zealand counterparts have warned that these would damage the historical "bonds of mateship" between the two countries.
