A New Zealander won his court case against the Australian government, only to be kicked out of the country after a last-minute law change. 

Mehaka Lee Te Puia arrived back at Auckland International Airport on Friday night.

He told TVNZ Australian police tackled him to the ground at his family home shortly after his visa was cancelled for a second time.

"It's disgusting because at the end of the day they knew my visa was cancelled. They knew where I was, I wasn't hiding," Te Puia said.

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"I was pretty much ready to come back, I just wanted to spend time with my family."

Te Puia won a court case in the High Court of Australia on September 6 against Peter Dutton, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

Dutton cancelled Te Puia's visa on the grounds that he did not pass a "character test".

The court ruled the minister could not use "protected information" – information gleaned through confidential or intelligence sources that could not be disclosed – to cancel a visa on character grounds.

But moves were already afoot during Te Puia's court bid to eject him from the country, regardless of the outcome of the case.

Two days before the court decision, Australia passed a law validating visa cancellations that were made using protected information. 

Dutton cancelled Te Puia's visa under the new law an hour after he won his case.

Te Puia, 39, has been many things in his life, including a New Zealand Army reservist and carpet layer.

But it would be his five-year membership with the Rebels Motorcycle Club that would see him become the latest casualty in a crackdown on New Zealand citizens who commit offences or have ties to 'bikie' gangs. 

Another New Zealander, Shane Martin, was deported in March 2016 for allegedly being a top-ranking official of the Rebels. Martin is the father of Dustin Martin, a well-known AFL player. 

A law passed in December 2014 allowed immigration authorities to cancel a person's visa if they had served jail time and failed a 'character test'.

Te Puia told TVNZ he had been convicted of possessing a steroid, which was a prohibited drug in Australia.

His visa was cancelled in 2015 and he would be shuttled between prisons in Western Australia, including two maximum-security facilities, until the High Court decision in September.

During the High Court case the Australian Immigration Minister said a special taskforce had determined the Rebels to be "one of Australia's highest criminal threats".

In 2012, the Australian government setup National Taskforce Attero to target the Rebels MC for being what it classified as an Organised Motorcycle Criminal Gang. It would make 3000 arrests.