While writing Far North, Gillies contacted those involved for interviews and ended up talking to two of them, Stevie Cullen (known as Marvel), who was then an inmate at the Northland Region Corrections Facility, and Callan Hughes (C.J.).
Hughes had been in prison and was sent to the Australian immigration detention facility on Christmas Island near Indonesia before being deported to New Zealand.
“He ended up being on Christmas Island with one of the guys in the Far North ring. And they came over within a couple of days, both 501s,” Gillies said.
As he spoke with Hughes, Gillies said he realised there could be a lot more to the 501s’ side of the story.
Gillies interviewed Hughes multiple times.
“He basically told me all about how he’d left New Zealand, how he’d ended up getting into crime, how he’d ended up in a detention centre, which was far worse than prison, and then starting his own drug crew.”
Gillies’ interest in the 501s situation – the deportation of New Zealand citizens back to New Zealand under Section 501 of the Australian Migration Act – was piqued.
“I thought there’s probably something in the whole phenomenon of the 501s. The people who have done a year in prison in Aussie got sent back, the Kiwis, or even if they just had bad character or hung out with the wrong motorcycle club or whatever, they would be sent back.
“Some had quite a struggle, but others had come back and turned their lives around and were now helping other people. There’s a few stories of redemption there as well.”
The lack of support for 501s on returning home was a major factor, he said.
“They only get a few hundred bucks and maybe a week to stay in a motel and then they’re on their own. And in a lot of cases, their families are still over in Australia, like their children, [which is] particularly hard if they’re women. Their children are in Australia, their partners are in Australia, their parents are in Australia.”
Some had addiction issues.
“A lot of them, the ones that are coming straight from prison, are addicted to drugs. They come back and they’re a bit sick already and they’re desperate for drugs that often aren’t that readily available in New Zealand … New Zealand’s right into methamphetamine and Australia, a lot of them are coming back addicted to heroin or drugs similar to heroin.”
Some had few connections in New Zealand in a situation where support was vital.
“These people have been found to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the sheer process of being deported. As one of them said, their pōwhiri [welcome] back to New Zealand was handcuffs, DNA-testing and blood-testing and meeting your probation officer, when a lot of them thought they were coming back and were going to be free.
“They feel more like refugees than homecoming Kiwis because they’ve moved to Australia with all their family members and a lot of them have been there since they were kids.
His advice to those with 501s as relatives?
“If a family member of yours comes back … put a hand out to them and help them because they’ve got a lot stacked up against them when they first turn up back here.”