Former immigration minister Scott Morrison has delivered a blunt message to hundreds of New Zealanders convicted of crimes who are 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 on Friday.
"I don't care how long you've been here."
Mr Morrison's comments came as Malcolm Turnbull left for New Zealand on his first official overseas visit as prime minister.
The fate and treatment of convicted NZ citizens, now in immigration detention on Christmas Island, will be a hot-button issue during talks with Prime Minister John Key on Saturday.
Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney ahead of his departure the matter was "a very live one" in NZ and he looked forward to discussing the issue with his "good friend".
"It is very important that we maintain our standards, our security and that is why we have a very long-standing practice, it isn't applied indiscriminately and is applied with discretion," he said.
Mr Morrison acknowledged there was free movement of citizens between the two nations.
"But ... if you abuse that privilege, then you should have no expectation that you'd be able to stay," he said.
Mr Morrison recalled that during his time as immigration minister he saw some "very grisly" cases including sexual abuse of children.
He defended Australia's policy of automatically deporting visa holders who had spent more than a year in prison.
The treatment of New Zealanders in Australian immigration detention centres is being referred to the human rights watchdog.
Greens parties on both sides of the Tasman want the Australian Human Rights Commission to investigate claims detained Kiwis are being bullied by guards and being denied medical treatment and legal support.
They have called on the prime minister to replace the policy with a case-by-case approach through the courts.
"It's a test for Malcolm Turnbull. Will he fix the problem or will he continue with Tony Abbott's crash, brash and hard over-reach," Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters in Canberra.
