Australia's attempt to deport a convicted criminal to Papua New Guinea (PNG) has failed after authorities there decided to send him back.

Key points: PNG's chief of migration says they have received no formal request from the Australian Government

PNG's chief of migration says they have received no formal request from the Australian Government Kuster was put on a plane back to Australia shortly after landing in Port Moresby

Kuster was put on a plane back to Australia shortly after landing in Port Moresby A spokesman for Foreign Minister Marise Payne declined to comment

Gus Kuster, 40, has lived in Australia since he was three but was put on a flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby on Wednesday after falling foul of the Federal Government's character test for residents.

His plane landed in the PNG capital just after midday on Wednesday.

But he was held on the plane and has since been flown back to Brisbane.

PNG chief of migration Solomon Kantha said his country's Immigration and Citizenship Authority (ICA) wanted "a formal request" from Australia and would "have to verify if the person is or was a PNG citizen and if the person is still a citizen is qualified under our laws to be returned to the country".

"He has been refused entry until ICA receives a formal request with necessary documentation on his citizenship status before a decision is conveyed to Australian authorities," Mr Kantha said.

"He … will return to Australia until ICA establishes his citizenship status."

Australian officials had planned to leave Kuster in Port Moresby, where his family said he had no close relatives, with two weeks' paid accommodation and $250.

The Federal Government will also bill him for the cost of his removal.

But Immigration officials on Wednesday admitted they had not verified that Kuster was a PNG citizen.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Marise Payne declined to comment.

A small group of family friends had gathered at Port Moresby Airport for Kuster's arrival.

His niece, Tiffany Kuster, speaking on behalf of his Brisbane-based family, said they were "in shock" over Wednesday's events.

"We don't know what to think," she said.

"We say he belongs here — is that what the PNG Government thinks?

"He knows no other way of life than here in Australia. He will be distraught about not knowing what's going to happen to him."

Girlfriend flew to PNG on separate flight

At Port Moresby Airport, family friend Vagi Boga and one of Kuster's mother's cousins were waiting to meet him.

"He's grown up in Australia, he doesn't even know the culture, he has no idea about Papua New Guinea," Ms Boga said.

Vagi Boga (left) and other family friends were waiting for Kuster to arrive in PNG. ( ABC News: Natalie Whiting )

"The Australian Government thinks they can just come and chuck people here, just because they have criminal records, but they are human beings.

"So they have to consider all of these things before sending people over here."

Kuster's girlfriend Cassandra Rahbari flew to Port Moresby on a different flight, which landed shortly after Mr Kuster was sent back to Australia.

Ms Rahbari said Kuster sent her a text message to explain what had happened before he left PNG.

"It's very emotional because I've never been here myself either, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do," he said.

Ms Rahbari said after being kept in detention, Kuster agreed to come back to PNG.

Kuster's girlfriend Cassandra Rahbari (middle) who took a separate flight to join him in PNG. ( ABC News: Natalie Whiting )

"Being in detention is very harsh, it's mentally and emotionally draining and I said to him if ever he wants out and he wants to go, I'd support him 100 per cent and go with him," she said.

She is staying a night in Port Moresby before flying back to Australia on Thursday, where she said they will "keeping fighting it".

"We'll have to contact our lawyers and get some information on what we can do next," she said.

A life in and out of jail

Kuster has been jailed 10 times in 20 years, often over drug and driving offences.

The most serious sentence was a two-and-a-half-year prison term for dangerous driving during an amphetamine-fuelled police car chase in Brisbane in 2004.

Last year, he served out a 12-month sentence for an offence that cannot be legally disclosed.

He has since spent more than a year in immigration detention fighting to stay in Australia.

Kuster's blood ties to Australia run back three generations.

"I just can't understand how I can be outcast, as not an Australian," Kuster said ahead of his deportation.

Kuster has worked on Sunshine Coast trawlers, in labouring jobs and on farms north of Brisbane, but never became an Australian citizen.

This exposed him to a government character test that mandates removal for anyone sentenced to a year or more in prison.

Last month, the Morrison Government introduced legislation to allow it to deport people with convictions, but not jail time.

This would put tens of thousands more Australian residents in line for removal, a senate inquiry has been told.