Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will use Friday's meeting with counterpart Scott Morrison in Sydney to tell him his Government is deporting Australian criminals to New Zealand while ignoring the outsized economic contribution Kiwis make to Australia - upping the ante on the long-running sore spot in the relationship.

It is understood Ardern will make the case that while Australia is justified in deporting some criminals, it is sending many back who are effectively Australian.

According to Government figures obtained by Stuff, at least a third of the Australian residents deported to New Zealand have not stepped foot here for more than 10 years. Under New Zealand law, if a person has lived here for 10 years, with very few exceptions, they are legally considered New Zealand's problem.

For those who have been in New Zealand for less time, there is a sliding scale: the longer a person has dwelt here, the more serious a crime has to be to warrant deportation.

In contrast, almost 2000 people have been deported to New Zealand since Australia began hardline enforcement of a populist immigration policy in late 2014.

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"The position we've always maintained is that where there are cases where there is virtually little to no connection between the person being deported and New Zealand, those are the cases that we find most corrosive," Ardern told Stuff late last week.

Now it is understood that in private talks with Morrison today, Ardern will go much further. New Zealand will significantly stiffen its posturing on the issue, arguing that Australia's position - which Morrison had a hand in crafting while Immigration Minister - lacks proportionality and has become extreme.

Pool/Getty Images Prime ministers Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern have plenty to talk about.

Australian deportees have brought with them Australian problems, and gang-affiliated deportees have, in some cases, brought the extreme violence of Australia's resurgent - and more criminally sophisticated - bikie gang culture with them.

The Comanchero bike gang - known in Australia for its violence and criminal business savvy - had a minimal presence in New Zealand until early 2016, when several senior members were deported here.

An official Comanchero MC was established in New Zealand in January 2018 and now has three chapters.

The Comanchero bike gang is infamous in Australia. It has now set up multiple chapters in NZ.

"They are the ones that New Zealanders simply can't understand. And I also think it has that extra added negative effect, because families get broken up and people are being placed in New Zealand with no support network whatsoever, and we are paying the cost of that," Ardern said.

Yet the fact remains that - save the 0.3 per cent of Kiwis who are deported - economically speaking, the best sort of Australians are New Zealanders.

New Zealanders make a disproportionate contribution to the Australian economy. Figures from the Australian Census show that New Zealand-born people in Australia have a higher average income than Australians (and other migrant groups), earn around $A220 more per week than other immigrants, and $A160 per week more than native-born Australians. That means Kiwis pay much more tax per head than local-born Australians.

TRACEY NEARMY/GETTY IMAGES Scott Morrison had a hand in crafting Australia's deportation policy while Immigration Minister.

Only 65 per cent of Australians are in a job or looking for one, compared to almost 77 per cent of resident New Zealanders in Australia. The rate of New Zealand-born people in Australia with no high school education is roughly half that of Australians.

While the Prime Minister doesn't believe New Zealand has any real leverage in this matter other than moral clarity and certainly doesn't plan to "shirtfront" Morrison, these figures will all add to Ardern's pitch at Kirribilli House. Because Australia has so many more Kiwis on its shores than New Zealand has Australians, she has already ruled out enacting a similar law herself. The National Party floated the idea of enacting an Australian-style law this week.

The Government has been under pressure from the National Party over the increase in patched gang members since 2017, a situation that both parties acknowledge has been driven, in part, by deportation of hardened criminals from Australia since 2014.

HENRY COOKE Jacinda Ardern arrives in Australia for her meeting with Scott Morrison.

"There's no doubt it's part of the picture. In my own electorate, the Mongols gang has come from Australia. And whilst I don't know the numbers, certainly some of them that have been involved in a gang warfare in recent weeks, will be 501s," Opposition leader Simon Bridges told Stuff this week.

On police figures obtained by Stuff, the National Gang List which was established in 2016 showed patched and prospect gang members have increased by a third since June 2016, from 4420 to 6534.

But the National Party does agree that, given New Zealand's economic contribution to Australia, Australia might be having its cake and eating it too.

NICK PERRY National has been putting pressure on the Government over gang issues in NZ that have resulted from the deportations.

"I think the reality of the situation is one where Australia is getting some of our best workers to drive the trucks, to work in their mines, to take on skilled work, and that they would be fools to get themselves in a situation where such a labour force wasn't coming to them. But they can't have all the positives without some of the negatives," Bridges told Stuff.