Peter Dunne, the leader of New Zealand’s United Future party, has condemned Australia for its “appalling treatment” of the detainees at the Christmas Island detention centre. He said that ordinary New Zealanders can now choose to boycott Australia for the unthinkable treatment of the Kiwis awaiting deportation at the detention centre.

"I think there will be a lot of people who will make that sort of call and who will decide one way of venting their protest is not to go to Australia," Dunne said on Radio New Zealand on Friday. "Or they could make their concerns known to Australians they know, relatives or friends – this is something that needs to be taken up people-to-people. The Australians keep telling us we're family, and families are frank with each other."

Dunne wrote in a newsletter published on Thursday that Australia’s approach towards detaining New Zealanders with criminal backgrounds can be equated to a modern day concentration camp.

"It was wrong when the British tried it in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, it is wrong in Guantanamo Bay, or in Israel today," he said. "Australia is no different. The right to due process and fair and open trials is inalienable."

But the minister later said on Radio NZ that he made the comment not in the capacity of a government minister and that it was his personal view. He added that he is not trying to safeguard detainees who committed serious crimes. But he is against keeping them in appalling conditions.

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