Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says "it's just not right" that Australia has changed its immigration policy to send more 501 deportees to New Zealand.
His comments come after Australia's Immigration Minister Andrew Giles issued Direction 110 on Friday, which would make it "crystal clear" that non-citizens with violent criminal records should be deported, even if they'd lived their whole lives in the country.
Giles said the change would make community safety the "highest" priority.
In response, Luxon said on Friday while Australia is "well within its right" to make its own rules, "we regret the decision that Australia has made".
"It's just not right that we think that people who have no connection to New Zealand, are deported to New Zealand," he added.
Luxon said he'd raised the issue of 501 deportations with PM Albanese previously, plus Foreign Minister Winston Peters has raised it with Giles too.
"We need to make sure and monitor how that [Direction 110] gets implemented going forward," he said.
The new Direction 110 will replace the controversial Direction 99, which drew political backlash after roughly 30 people with criminal histories used it to get out of deportation.
Giles has also cancelled the visas of 40 people deemed non-citizens again, after they previously had their cancellations overturned under the old direction.
"This new revised Direction makes crystal clear that the government expects the protection of the Australian community be given greater weight in visa decisions," he said.
The announcement means the Australian government is walking back its commitment Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made to former NZ PM Jacinda Ardern in 2022.
Albanese promised his country would stop deporting people with criminal histories - known as 501s - if they'd spent the majority of their life in Australia but were born in Aotearoa and couldn't become citizens.
The old direction required "primary consideration" be given to a person's connection to Australia in visa decisions.
The new wording in the direction reads: "The safety of the Australian community is the highest priority of the Australian government".
It also adds: "Family violence is so serious that even strong countervailing considerations may be insufficient to justify not cancelling or refusing the visa".
Giles said the change is "an important step in ensuring that our migration system is working always in our national interest".
But Australia's opposition leader Peter Dutton said the new direction wouldn't lead to "much change at all."
