Brent McCorkindale is one of hundreds more deportees from Australia than previously estimated, and lives alone in a unit while his four children and most of his family remain in Brisbane.

Hundreds more offenders have been deported to New Zealand than predicted when the Australian Government ramped up efforts to boot criminals out three years ago.

An advocacy group is bracing itself for potentially more than double the number of NZ citizen-offenders being deported from Australia over a five-year period.

In 2015, police sources said up to 1000 people could be sent back to New Zealand over the next half-decade. With two years remaining, the figure sits at 1180, excluding the hundreds who arrived before tracking started.

"The projection in itself was way off. In fact, no-one has a clue," said Helen Murphy, who runs the Christchurch branch of the Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Society (Pars).

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF Helen Murphy, of Prisoners' Aid and Rehabilitation Society, says she wants Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to "start to get hammered" by New Zealand politicians.

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"Kiwi families in Australia are absolutely beside themselves now ... they're terrified. Too scared to go on holidays and things like that because they fear they may not get let back in the country."

The offenders were kicked out of Australia due to an amendment to section 501 of the country's Migration Act 1958. Between the 2013-14 and 2016-17 financial years, the number of visa cancellations on character grounds increased by more than 1400 per cent due to the amendment.

More than 1280 people from all nationalities were kicked out of Australia over the 2016-17 financial year, and 620 New Zealanders were deported during the 2017 calendar year.

New Zealand was by far the most common country for deportees. The United Kingdom was second, with 124 deported in 2017 – nearly 500 less than New Zealand.

Immigration New Zealand has deported 10 Australians since 2013. Assistant general manager Peter Devoy said reasons ranged from breaching visa conditions, "character grounds", fraud, forgery and using a false identity.

An Australian Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said the large number of Kiwis deported reflected the size of the community in Australia, "which is Australia's largest non-citizen cohort".

Known as 501s, the offenders returning to New Zealand came with a raft of different convictions, ranging anywhere from driving offences to murder.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF McCorkindale, who moved to Australia 30 years ago, finds it tough being alone, but living in Christchurch has helped him stay away from crime and provide better for his children.

Brent McCorkindale, 39, was among them, but served just four months in prison for driving, drugs and fraud convictions. The maximum sentence for his crimes was 15 months, meaning he was still eligible for deportation.

Having called Australia home since the age of 9, McCorkindale struggled when he arrived in Christchurch, but living here had helped him stay away from crime and provide better for his four children still living in Brisbane.

"Everything's going pretty good now. I was unemployed over there for a while so that's when you sort of fall into your bad ways," he said.

He secured a job as a mechanic soon after arriving in Christchurch, and he sent his family $200 a week to support them, he said.

"My whole family's over there so it was a bit s... adjusting ... but I've got my visa back now. They gave it back to me about six months after I got here.

"Until then I was thinking 'I don't know when I'm going to see my kids again'."

SUPPLIED Murphy says offenders who have managed to have their visas reinstated after deportation to New Zealand have had them overturned under Dutton, pictured.

The New Zealand Government introduced the Returning Offender (Information and Management) Act in November 2015.

Department of Corrections deputy national commissioner Andy Milne said not all Kiwi deportees were subject to a Returning Offender Order, but 764 people had been as of June 12. Of those, 305 were currently subject to an order.

Murphy said she wanted to see Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton "start to get hammered" by New Zealand politicians.

Under Dutton, offenders who had managed to have their visas reinstated after deportation to New Zealand had been overturned, Murphy said.

"That's when people are back home doing their thing. They've got jobs, they've got lives and next minute, at 6 o'clock in the morning, there's Border Force taking them back out."