Australia’s close alliance with New Zealand has evolved to a streamlined extradition process. Unlike other foreign countries, this process is similar to interstate extradition.
To extradite someone, a hearing will be listed before an Australian magistrate. A magistrate will choose whether to endorse a New Zealand warrant, authorising the execution of the warrant in Australia by an Australian police officer. This process does not involve the Attorney-General.
The accused will be arrested and brought before the court for an extradition hearing. Extradition to New Zealand must be refused if the magistrate or appeal judge is satisfied that:
- the offence is trivial,
- the accusation was not made in good faith or in the interests of justice, or
- there has been a substantial delay since the offence was allegedly committed and so it would be unjust, oppressive or too severe a punishment to surrender that person to New Zealand.
