Latest police figures show 501 deportations to New Zealand have dropped in the nine months to the end of September. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The number of 501 deportees to this country has dropped markedly since Australia softened its stance.
But the percentage of those deported committing crime once back in New Zealand continues to creep up.
Canberra decided in March to give more weight to a person's ties to Australia and length of time living there, when considering whether to boot them out.
The policy - a marked changed from when the previous regime described deportees as "trash" - has applied for two-thirds of this year.
In the nine months to the end of September, 171 people were deported, the latest police figures show.
That monthly rate of 19 compares to 27 a month last year, and an average of 30 a month since 2015, when the 501 law kicked in.
It became a sore point between the trans Tasman lawmakers that New Zealanders who had lived across the Tasman since early childhood were being deported.
The figures show 78 people deported who had shifted to Australia when they were just a toddler; and a further 120 deported who had shifted before they were 10 years old.
All up, 3058 people have been deported since 2015 under the so-called '501' grounds of bad character.
More than 1800 of them, or a sliver under 60 percent, had committed an offence or been linked to one since arriving here.
That was up from 57 percent last year and 40 percent in 2019.
Violence (3750 offences), drugs or antisocial behaviour (2800) featured, and milder offences of dishonesty (5000) and traffic (3700) offences rounded out the total 19,000 offences since 2015.
Just under half of deportees had been convicted of an offence since 2015.
More than a third of deportees - almost 1300 - had settled in greater Auckland.
The bulk of deportees - 2000 - were aged between 20 and 40.
Māori made up 1200 of them, European 900 and Pacific people 670.
In previous years, police have raised fears that systems in place to manage the deportees were stretched and public safety could be put at risk.
They told RNZ their response to deportees was "continually reviewed to ensure their transition into society is facilitated smoothly and any risk to communities is managed appropriately".
"Many deportees are subject to returning offender orders, which means they are required to adhere to special conditions such as not consuming drugs or alcohol, being electronically monitored or attending rehabilitation programmes."