The lawyer of a former New Zealand soldier being held in an Australian prison is trying to get a psychiatrist in to assess him.

Photo: SNPA

Ko Haapu was a bodyguard for Prime Minister John Key in Afghanistan in 2010.

He has been detained since October in Perth under new visa laws and faces deportation because he is a member of a bikie gang, though he has no criminal record.

His lawyer, Michael Pena-Rees, said he was worried jail might be exacerbating any post-traumatic stress disorder Mr Haapu might have suffered from being in a war zone.