A New Zealand MP is heading to Christmas Island to highlight the issue of detention of New Zealanders convicted of crimes who are facing deportation from Australia.
"We're just hoping to shine a massive spotlight on the human rights abuses that are going on in the detention centres, not just in Christmas Island but all around Australia," Labour MP Kelvin Davis told a New Zealand TV network on Saturday.
Mr Davis is currently in Perth and is intending to travel on to Christmas Island.
He says there's a process to go through but he's hoping to visit the detention centre there.
Mr Davis says he's been talking to detainees throughout Australia and their stories of abuse are very consistent.
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The trip has been dismissed as a political stunt by Prime Minister John Key, TV3 reports.
Mr Davis says that's the prime minister's narrative.
"He has to say it, he's been caught flat-footed."
In Australia on Friday former Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison delivered a blunt message to New Zealanders facing deportation from Australia.
"If you're here on a visa and you've committed sexual assault, if you're a gangster, if you're a bikie gang member, if you've engaged in physical assault or murder ... you've worn out your welcome in this country," he told reporters in Sydney.
"I don't care how long you've been here."
Mr Morrison's comments were made ahead of the first official visit by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to New Zealand.
The fate of detainees will be a hot-button issue during talks with Mr Key on Saturday.
