Australia deportation laws criticised by NZ prime minister

Nearly 200 New Zealanders are in Australian detention awaiting deportation, local media has reported

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has said Australia's deportation laws are undermining their relationship.

He said he had had a "blunt" chat about the issue with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at the UN.

The laws, introduced last year, mean any non-Australian criminal imprisoned for a year or more can have their permit to live in Australia revoked.

Mr Key said some New Zealanders now facing deportation had spent their entire lives in Australia.

About 300 New Zealanders are being held in Australia or have been deported since the new laws came into force, Radio New Zealand reported.

Mr Key said many of those detained went to Australia "when they were very, very, young".

"It's a little bit like the Australians saying, 'well, we're going to pick and choose; we're going to keep the ones we like but we're going to send back the ones we don't like'."

Mr Key said that his country's special relationship with Australia was being "challenged" by the new rules and that he expected New Zealanders to be treated differently from other countries.

"What they might do with other countries is up to them," he said. "But I think when it comes to New Zealanders, the threshold's currently set in the wrong place."

Ms Bishop said there was "no closer relationship than Australia and New Zealand" and agreed the issue needed further discussion.

New Zealand and Australia have an agreement allowing their citizens to live and work freely in either country

Concerns have also been raised over the death of New Zealander Junior Togatuki, 23, in the Goulburn Correctional Centre, a super-maximum prison in New South Wales.

Togatuki had reportedly written to Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton pleading against his impending deportation.

"I'll lose hope in life if I go to New Zealand," Togatuki, who had lived in Australia since the age of four, reportedly wrote.