The mayor of Christmas Island says it is disgusting New Zealanders are being sent there and claims it's an attempt by the Australian government to isolate and bully them into being deported.
Labour MP Kelvin Davis is being stonewalled from visiting the detention centre, so today he took matters into his own hands, walking through the jungle and standing on a hill overlooking the property.
Lester Hohua has been at the detention centre for six weeks, after being sent to prison for fighting.
"We've done our time," he says. "We don't deserve to be ripped away from our family. Probably about 80 percent of us are good citizens. We just made a mistake."
Hohua worked at Bunnings in Melbourne. His family are all based there too.
He says he loves and misses his whanau back home.
"I can't wait to be reunited."
Christmas Island's equivalent of a mayor, Shire President Gordon Thompson, is disgusted the Serco–run detention centre is home to an increasing number of New Zealanders.
The Serco-run detention centre was set up to stop asylum seekers on boats trying to get into Australia from Indonesia.
But Mr Thompson says the island's remote location is being used to bully the Kiwis, cutting them off from their families and legal support so they'll stop their appeals, give up and sign the papers to be deported.
3 News understands another five New Zealanders arrived on Christmas Island at the weekend, bringing the total now to almost 50.
A number of the detainees say further preparation is being made for a big influx of Kiwis.
3 News
