Australian Supreme: Aboriginal people cannot be expelled, even if they have no citizenship
A precedent ruling states that two citizens, who were not born in the state, cannot be expelled from the state, even though the law allows them to do so against foreigners convicted of criminal offenses. One of their parents has a native background, but they never applied for citizenship
Australian Supreme: Aboriginal people cannot be expelled, even if they have no citizenship
Photo: Reuters, edited by Asaf DruryThe Australian Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that two Aborigines could not be deported even though they were not born in the country and never applied for citizenship. This is a precedent ruling for the continent's native inhabitants.
In recent months, the Australian Conservative Government has been working to deport hundreds of foreign nationals convicted of criminal offenses, as part of a fight against immigration, which could also revoke Australian citizenship for dual citizens. Dozens have been deported from Australia, sometimes to countries they left when they had more children.
The case concerns the case of Daniel Love and Brendan Thomas, who were born outside Australia and one of their parents was Aboriginal. The two had permanent visas, but they never applied for citizenship. Their stay visas were revoked after being convicted in 2018 in two separate cases for offenses punishable by a year in prison.
The government sought to treat them as foreigners, and deport them to their homeland in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. However, in a four-to-three majority decision, the Australian Supreme Court ruled that they should be treated as citizens and so they can remain. Love is facing a separate hearing to determine if his roots are indeed Native.
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Two Aboriginal foreign nationals the Australian Supreme Court banned from expelling (Photo: Untitled, Untitled)
Claire Gibbs, the lawyer who represented the two, told reporters that the ruling is "significant for Australian Aborigines." "This case does not concern citizenship. It concerns who belongs here, who is an Australian citizen and who is part of the Australian community. She called on the government to release Thomas, who has been held in detention for more than a year.
700,000 Aborigines live in Australia, out of 25 million citizens, and are at the bottom of almost all social and economic indices.
