Australia's immigration detention centres hold people from all over the world - Iranians, Sri Lankan's, Chinese, and Vietnamese.

However, New Zealander's now make up the biggest group being held in those centres.

Isn't that remarkable?

One hundred and ninety-nine kiwis are being detained at facilities, such as Christmas Island, because of a law change that allowed Canberra to revoke their visas based on poor character.

Chiefly, we're talking about someone who's suspected of a crime, or a convicted criminal who's spent twelve months in jail or more.

We're not talking about the most upstanding members of society, here. But then I don't think we're really talking about New Zealanders either.

Many have lived their whole lives in Australia. Some are in their late teens or early twenties. They have no family here. No social infrastructure.

New Zealand is a foreign land to them, but because kiwis have largely been denied citizenship in Australia, they're deemed to be New Zealanders.

There are so many issues with this. Not least that it means entire families are being forced to relocate to New Zealand to stay together because of the actions of one member.

The actions of one bad-egg in the family.

You commit one act of criminal stupidity in your teenage years, you serve your time, and then you're packed off to a detention centre because your visa has been revoked and your challenging it. You lose that appeal, and suddenly you're flying to New Zealand.

Has our government been vocal about this? No. But it should be.
Why is it, politically, that we're scared to speak out against Australia?

Why do we tip-toe around Canberra? Are we living in their shadow? Still? We wouldn't treat an Australian in this way but you can guarantee that if we did, Canberra would come out swinging.

So why are we politically so timid?

In the UK, if your visa's cancelled because you've breached it's conditions, you can challenge that ruling, and you don't spend your time locked up in an immigration detention centre while you do.

Likewise, if we cancel an Australian's visa and they wish to challenge it, we don't lock them up in a detention centre.

It doesn't make sense.

Kelvin Davis says Australia is trying to "purify" it's country.

I'm not sure about that, but what I do know is that Australia has an abysmal human rights record.

Look at the horrendous footage that's emerged from it's youth detention centre in the northern territories.

I've seen some pretty horrendous things during my time as a journalist, but as a mother of a young boy, I had to turn away from that footage.

If that's how Australia is treating its own youth, you can only imagine what's going on in their immigration detention centres.