Eight months after arriving in New Zealand, acclaimed author Behrouz Boochani has been granted refugee status.
The Kurdish-Iranian writer joins a small group of successful applicants – with almost two thirds of asylum claims rejected last year.
Gaining refugee status means he can stay in New Zealand indefinitely and can apply for a resident’s visa.
Peter Dutton will probably lose his shit over this, but fuck him, he deserves to be in The Hague. Protecting victims of concentration camps is exactly what refugee status is for, and if Australia has forgotten that, so much the worse for them. But Boochani is not the only victim of Australian cruelty; we should grant refugee status to everyone in the camps on Manus and Nauru and bring them here for safe lives in New Zealand. And if Australia doesn't like that, then fuck them.
And in the meantime, remember: don't buy Australian.