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B.C. residents with minor criminal records, including marijuana possession, would be wise not to buy plane tickets to Australia.

The same is true for anyone convicted of impaired driving or any other Criminal Code offence.

That's because the Australian government has banned foreigners with criminal records from entering the country.

It's particularly onerous for people who live on Canada's West Coast. That's because they can't process any appeals for the rejection of a visa through the Vancouver consulate and trade commission.

Instead, an appeal must be filed with the Australian embassy in Ottawa.

Canadians who go this route have to furnish a huge list of documents, including bank statements, a letter from an employer stating an intention to return to work, and evidence of immediate family members in Canada.

Stephen Harper met Australian foreign minister

The deputy leader of Australia's governing right-wing Liberal Party, Julie Bishop, was in Vancouver and Calgary last July to attend the Australia-Canada Economic Forum.

Bishop is also the foreign minister.

During her time here, she met then prime minister Stephen Harper, then foreign affairs minister Rob Nicholson, and then defence minister Jason Kenney.

Bishop's office subsequently announced that Canada and Australia had agreed to "greater diplomatic and consular cooperation".

Kiwis enraged by Australian crackdown

Meanwhile, Australia's decision to detain and deport foreigners with criminal records on faraway Christmas Island is causing an uproar in New Zealand.

And it could lead to a travel boycott that could harm the Australian economy.

New Zealand politician Peter Dunne, leader of Union Future, has reportedly told Radio New Zealand that the appalling treatment of Kiwis will lead his countrymen to decide not to visit Australia.

He claimed that Australia is using "a modern concentration camp approach".

Christmas Island is closer to Sumatra than it is to continental Australia.

New Zealand prime minister John Key has shot back at critics, claiming that they are "backing rapists".

That prompted several female MPs who've been sexually assaulted to demand Key withdraw the remark. Some were thrown out by the parliamentary speaker.

"The truth is, about 50 New Zealand citizens have been detained under a policy that revokes the visas of anyone of 'bad character' or who has been sentenced to crimes that carry a tariff of one year or more in prison," wrote MP Metiria Turei in the Guardian.

"Many of the detainees are people with minor historical convictions, people who have lived their entire lives in Australia, who have families, who have paid taxes there and been good Aussies," Turei continued. "Some, however, do have serious convictions for abhorrent crimes. But not one of the detainees has been convicted of rape or murder."

One detainee told a New Zealand news station that inmates held on Christmas Island are being fed in buckets.

This should serve as a cautionary tale to any Canadian thinking about lying about not having a criminal record before hopping on a plane from Vancouver to Sydney.