Australian detainees arrive in Auckland, eight placed on supervision orders.

Two-thirds of the detainees arriving from Christmas Island have been placed on supervision orders.

The group of 12 arrived at Auckland International Airport on a charter flight at about 10am on Thursday, while another group will arrive next week.

Police and Corrections met the offenders on arrival and are putting them through a rigorous processing and induction process.

Getty Images Some of the returned New Zealanders were held at the Australian detention centre on Christmas Island.

"The priority for police is to ensure community safety and assist agencies responsible for facilitating their reintegration into the community," said Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess.

The new Returned Offenders (Management and Information) Act, which was passed through Parliament under urgency on Wednesday, will monitor the offenders under a "parole-like" system.

At a press conference at the airport, Corrections Northern Region Commissioner Jeanette Burns said eight of the 12 detainees were placed under supervision orders.

"Corrections will be monitoring these offenders very closely, exactly the same way we would monitor anyone coming out of prison here in New Zealand."

The detainees would be taken to Prison Aid and Rehabilitation Services (PARS) and onto various accommodation from there.

"Some of them will be with family like they would be usually coming out of prison. But this accommodation will be vetted by us."

"We're working very closely with PARS integrated services to get them into the right accommodation. We're working with MSD to get them benefits and those sorts of things they will require to set them up."

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Superintendent John Tims said the detainees had been compliant.

"They're being escorted from the plane by police staff to Immigration. Immigration then consider their documents.

"It's about making sure that when they go back into the community they are safe and the general community is safe."

On Wednesday Justice Minister Amy Adams said the monitoring regime "strikes a careful balance between offenders' rights and public safety.

"While we can never remove all risk of them reoffending, this legislation is an important part of reducing that risk for law-abiding New Zealanders."

About 50 people were waiting at the arrival gate, but none had heard much about the detainees arrival.

Gaeleen Scholes-Daysh said she thought it was cruel to separate the detainees from their families in Australia.

"Poor buggers, I think John Key needs to get off his ass and do something about it because they've lived in Australia for most of their life. They've done their time."

On arrival, the offenders go through a long and rigorous process of interviewing.

They will have to tell police their identification details including name, date of birth and address, and give their fingerprints.

DNA of the offenders will also be required and if it isn't taken at the airport, police will issue a compulsion notice to get the DNA later.

These are the same obligations faced by people who have committed similar crimes in New Zealand.

Interviewing the offenders will help police to get information that will help with the reintegration process including offender management plans and prevention tactics.

The offenders will be told in the induction they have to report to probation officers and that they are subject to supervision.

"Relevant agencies are working closely together to ensure the smooth arrival of this group, with our focus being to ensure community safety and their redintegrative needs," said Corrections Northern Regional Commissioner Jeanette Burns.

"While there has been some focus on the group arriving this week, it is important that this is viewed in the context of up to around 12,000 releases from the New Zealand prison system every year.

"The newly passed legislation means returning offenders can now be subject to the same sort of oversight as offenders who had served a similar prison sentence in New Zealand," she said.

The new legislation that was passed was not only for those returning from Australia, but for any offenders coming into the country.

The Government could not promise that overseas offenders would not reoffend, but the new monitoring rules would help officials to manage the risk, Adams said.