KEY POINTS:
Badly behaved Kiwis are being banned from Australia in increasing numbers as authorities send a warning to visitors from across the Tasman.
The crackdown follows the failed appeal against deportation by mother and son Maria and Prince Brown.
The pair were detained by immigration authorities after a 10-year crime spree that terrorised a Sydney suburb.
The Browns learned this month that their latest appeal against the deportation order has failed and they are likely to be returned to New Zealand.
A spokesman for Australia's immigration department said they would be banned for life unless they could convince government ministers to make an exception.
He also said the number of Kiwis banned had increased from 16 in 2004 to 38 last year. There are 15 people, including the Browns, awaiting deportation in the Villawood Detention Centre.
The Browns were born in Samoa but lived most their lives in New Zealand and they have New Zealand citizenship. They travelled to Australia on New Zealand passports and were allowed entry on a "permanent visa" basis.
A spokesman for New Zealand Internal Affairs Minister Richard Worth said there was nothing to stop the Browns settling back in New Zealand. The only grounds for cancelling their citizenship was if there was evidence it had been obtained fraudulently.
Raewyn Leota, a New Zealand friend of Maria Brown, said she expected the deported family would settle in Mangere or Otara.
