Co-leader Grant Cheesman, originally from Oamaru and based in Perth, said the Expat Party would focus on the party vote this year. It needs about 150,000 votes to pass the 5 per cent threshold required to enter Parliament.
"We only really need to get one in five to turn up to the polls," he said.
The party's election platform is fairer treatment for Kiwis living in Australia, many of whom arrived after immigration rules were tightened in 2001 and had limited access to entitlements despite paying tax.
It wants more lenience for Kiwis who move to Australia with student loans, and greater flexibility around moving superannuation between countries.
Cheesman said the party also wants to make it easier for Kiwis overseas to vote. He said the process was overly complicated, and he wanted online voting to be introduced.
He partly blamed the difficult voting process for a woeful turnout among Australian expats. He said between 20,000 to 30,000 of them cast a vote in 2014 - less than 5 per cent.
Expat New Zealanders cannot vote in Australia unless they are citizens. Australians, on the other hand, can vote in New Zealand if they have lived here for a year.
The Expat Party is one of several new groups making a bid for Parliament this year.
The newly-formed Advance New Zealand party took out advertisements in newspapers last week saying it had formed "in response to the disheartening and unrestrained downward spiral of a myriad of issues including housing, immigration, transportation, the environment and personal well-being".
Among its policies are the creation of an Upper House of Parliament, the introduction of a capital gains tax, phasing out petrol-powered cars by 2050, and putting a stop to all development permits in Auckland for two years until infrastructure can catch up with population growth.
Other parties which have been formed to contest the 2017 election include Gareth Morgan's The Opportunities Party (TOP), the People's Party, which is dedicated to immigrants' rights, and the Seniors Party.
