The Australian government won't rule out further sanctions against Fiji following the expulsion of the Australian High Commissioner from the country.

The move, which has given High Commissioner James Batley 24 hours to leave Fiji, was regrettable and unreasonable, a spokesman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said.

Self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama ordered the Australian and New Zealand envoys out of the country late on Tuesday.

It was an apparent retaliation to incidents in which both countries had refused visas to Fijian judges.

"This regrettable step will further isolate the Fiji regime and will contribute nothing to a prompt return to democracy or the rule of law," the DFAT spokesman said.

"This is a provocative and unreasonable reaction to questions relating to the application of travel sanctions to judicial appointees, particularly given that Australia had formally expressed its willingness ... to discuss this matter."

It was the people of Fiji who will continue to suffer as a result of Commodore Bainimarama's "ill-considered and destructive decisions".

"In response to these developments, Australia will give careful consideration to the question of possible further measures against the Fiji regime."

Self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, the military chief who has led the country since the December 2006 coup, made the order during a televised address at 5pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

"I have told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue communications to the Australian and New Zealand governments that their respective heads of missions are to be recalled within 24 hours," he said.

"I have also informed them that our High Commissioner in Australia is to be recalled, with immediate effect."

Australia and New Zealand were trying to undermine the country's progress by refusing visas to members of Fiji's judiciary, Commodore Bainimarama said.

He accused them of "a consolidated effort to attack Fiji's independent judiciary" and of holding Fiji back, adding such incidents were matters of "great shame".

"I can accept their ban on me and my senior officers ... but why punish those individuals, both Fijians and non-Fijians, who join the judiciary?"

He pointed to specific examples such as Australia's refusal to admit Sri Lankan judges to the country because of their appointments in Fiji.

In another example, a High Court judge was "harassed and humiliated" by the New Zealand High Commission after seeking a visa on medical grounds, Cdre Bainimarama said.

Australia and New Zealand restrict travel by individuals associated with the Fijian military regime.

"This is not only a short-sighted policy, but it constitutes an attempt to sabotage national building, economy strengthening and the modernising efforts," he said.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully confirmed the order late on Tuesday.

"The Australian High Commissioner and then New Zealand's Acting Head of Mission were called in by the head of Foreign Affairs in Fiji and told that they would be formally notified tomorrow that they had been declared Persona Non Grata," he said in a statement.

"The move follows a series of threats from the interim regime over recent days in relation to the effect that travel sanctions are having on members of the Fijian judiciary."

Australia and New Zealand have endured a fractured relationship with their Pacific neighbour since the coup, having urged repeatedly for democratic elections.

Cdre Bainimarama ousted the then-prime minister Laisenia Qarase in a bloodless coup in 2006 - the country's fourth since 1987.