That is the view of Professor Bill Harris, of the University of Otago's politics department.
Prof Harris said it seemed ''bizarre'' that some New Zealanders were being held for months in remote detention centres, and others were facing deportation to this country despite having lived in Australia since they were young children.
About 200 New Zealanders were being held in seven detention centres awaiting deportation, after Australia toughened its rules to deport criminals, some of whom had not lived in New Zealand for many years and committed relatively minor offences, The New Zealand Herald has reported.
Up to 75 New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders could be held on Christmas Island, an isolated Australian territory that lies south of Java in Indonesia, that has long been used to detain asylum seekers.
However, New Zealanders who have previously served jail time in Australia are now being sent there and held for months, Radio New Zealand has reported.
Prof Harris said it was ''constantly preached'' by some people that Australia and New Zealand enjoyed a ''special relationship''.
''If we have something like a special relationship we ought to be able to ask the Australians what's going on.''
He acknowledged concerns arising from the case of Junior Togatuki (23), who recently died in solitary confinement in Goulburn's Supermax prison in Australia while awaiting deportation to New Zealand, a country he left when he was four years old.
Asked about the overall detentions and deportations, Prof Harris said that some of the treatment of New Zealanders ''doesn't seem very nice''.
At times, Australian authorities could take a ''pretty hard'' approach, and aspects of the response seemed ''odd'' and raised questions about the relationship with Australia.
''We want to know what's going on and have a right to an explanation."
Prof Harris said a great deal had been said in Australia and New Zealand about special historical bonds between the two nations through our mutual involvement in the World War I Gallipoli campaign and later military deployments.
He agreed with the closer economic relations (CER) agreement, but some talk about historical bonds had been ''overdone''.
Asked if the relationship with Australia had been damaged, he said any possible harm had been ''small'' at this stage.
New Zealand's Labour Party leader Andrew Little has urged that an urgent explanation be sought from the Australian Government about Kiwis being held in detention centres following Mr Togatuki's death.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully has since contacted Australian counterpart Julie Bishop over the death.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who is unhappy about the overall situation, said he hoped to raise the matter at a future meeting with the recently elected Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
Some Australian civil rights commentators have suggested that one reason some people, including New Zealanders, were being held in remote detention centres was that this effectively limited their deportation appeal rights, given that lawyers were not always available there.
Prof Harris said he was a proud New Zealander and hoped that New Zealanders would make their main contributions in this country rather than living in Australia.
But New Zealanders were entitled to reciprocal treatment, should be treated no worse than Australians living in New Zealand, and should also have their human rights respected.
That included being able to exercise their legal rights of appeal against deportation, he said.
