Justice Minister Andrew Little has hit back against Aussie Minister Peter Dutton's comments against him.

Justice Minister Andrew Little is standing by comments he made on Australian TV that prompted Australia's immigration minister to attack him.

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton sledged Little over his comments about Australia's detainee policy, saying Little should "reflect" on the trans-Tasman relationship before repeating them.

Little was happy to stand by and repeat the comments to Stuff on Thursday evening, and he dismissed Dutton's comments about New Zealand not pulling its weight on immigration security.

SUPPLIED Peter Dutton hoped Andrew Little would not repeat his comments.

The justice minister used his interview on ABC show Foreign Correspondent this week to reiterate his long-held view that the country's policy of deporting non-citizens on "character" and criminal grounds sometimes breached human rights.

This policy has seen many Kiwis who have called Australia home for decades sent to New Zealand, a country they often retain very few connections to. If they try to appeal the decision they are held in an immigration detention facility without trial.

Little told Foreign Correspondent this was often a clear breach of human rights.

"People who identify as Australian residents, because that's where they've done their living, saying 'they're your problem now' - I think it is improper and I think it is a breach of human rights," he said.

"Detention for that length of time without charge... I can't think of another liberal democratic country like New Zealand, like Australia, like many other Western countries in the world, where that would be tolerated."

Dutton fired back on Australia's 2GB on Thursday, saying Little shouldn't repeat the comments without reflection. He then went on an extended riff about Australia's role in protecting New Zealand from boats of migrants.

"There's a lot to this relationship and I was really disappointed in Mr Little's comments during the week. I hope that he doesn't repeat them," he said.

"New Zealand don't contribute really anything to the defence effort that we've got where we're trying to surveil boats that might be on their way to New Zealand.

"So I hope that Andrew Little reflects a little more on the relationship between Australia and New Zealand where we do a lot of the heavy lifting."

Dutton said Australia did a lot for New Zealand.

"We're a big land mass between them and boats coming from Indonesia and Southeast Asia," he said.

Little told Stuff he stood by his comments, and he was not sure which one Dutton was specifically worried about him repeating.

He said the issue of people being deported on "character" grounds with no conviction was particularly egregious.

"Deporting somebody on those sorts of grounds without clarity and certainly is I think on any human rights analysis questionable," Little said.

He pushed back on any claims New Zealand didn't pull its weight in terms of security - an issue he said was "totally unrelated."

"I can say with my SIS/GCSB portfolio hat on that I'm totally confident about the value that New Zealand makes to our security, our regional security, and our international security."

He didn't think his view would come as any surprise to Dutton, as he had been talking about the issue for at least two years as both a minister and opposition leader - including once in a meeting with the Aussie immigration minister.

"I don't know whats prompted him to respond in the way that he has," Little said.

There were no current intergovernmental talks on the issue other than occasional leader-to-leader meetings, Little said.

"When it comes to human rights issues, there has got to be people prepared to speak up about it."