There was a glimmer of hope Australia's new government would be a game-changer for 501s.
But six months since Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took over, Australia is still deporting at a rate of more than one person per day.
The number kicked out has now grown to 2826, with 280 sent here in the first 10 months of the year, 174 of those since Albanese took charge 180 days ago.
One Christchurch woman is doing her best to help, visiting every 501 in every Australian detention centre.
It's a tour of Australia taking Filipa Payne off the beaten track. An hour from places most visit in Sydney, she's going somewhere everyone is trying to leave.
"It's really important that people see people from the outside come in and give them some aroha," Payne said.
Villawood Detention Centre sits within suburban Sydney but the 501s Payne is meeting live a life very different to their neighbours.
"It's abusive, it's torture, people are being beaten and no one seems to want to do anything about it," Payne said.
When Australia's new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met our Prime Minister he vowed to use a "common sense" approach to 501s.
"We've listened to the concerns, and there's more work to do," Albanese said.
But Payne said "nothing has changed".
Six months ago there was hope inside Villawood that a new government would change the 501 policy. But they said that hasn't been the case. While few have won appeals to stay, Australia is still deporting at a rate of one person a day.
"The position we've had of 501s has always been clear," Jacinda Ardern said. "We've only ever asked Australia to stop deporting those who are clearly not Kiwis."
With the number deported still climbing, so have their crimes.
The list is 10,000 convictions long. There have been 10,293 convictions, mostly involving dishonesty (2908) but 1739 involved violence. There were 2030 traffic offences and 1121 drug offences.
"It's not going to stop until we do something about it," Payne said.
Until then, Payne is all these men have and they farewell her with a haka - a gesture of appreciation from behind the fence as she fights for their freedom.
