Helen Davidson reports in The Guardian (4.12.19) on a High Court hearing in which the Australian government contends that those who are not citizens – even if they are Indigenous – are aliens and the Home Affairs minister has the power to cancel their visas.
‘The high court of Australia will this week examine a complicated question: can Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders be deported as aliens if they don’t hold Australian citizenship?
‘The federal government says yes. But lawyers for two Indigenous men facing removal from the country, backed up by the Victorian state government, say there is another option: non-citizen non-alien.
‘The special case hearing on Thursday before the full bench will examine a series of propositions, which were unusually put forward by the high court itself, and which go beyond the contentious issue of deportations.
‘The Australian government contends it is an issue of binary definitions and that, because the men are not citizens, they are therefore aliens and the minister has the power to cancel their visas.
‘Parties have already invoked significant precedents, including the Mabo ruling and the original act of colonisation, in arguing their cases.’
- Citizenship test: court to decide whether Indigenous people can be deported from Australia »
- High Court to rule on whether Indigenous men can be deported from Australia »
- High Court will decide if Indigenous people without citizenship can be deported »
- Citizenship test: Government argues Indigenous connection to land ‘important’ but no bar to deportation »
- Can Indigenous Australians be deported as ‘aliens’? A High Court decision will show us the strength of modern colonial power »
- High court rules Aboriginal Australians are not ‘aliens’ under the constitution and cannot be deported »
- High Court rules Aboriginal people cannot be deported for criminal convictions »
- High Court rules Indigenous people cannot be deported as aliens, but the fight for legal recognition remains »
- High court’s ‘alien’ decision is not surprising – but it won’t be the end of the story »
- Australia seeks to overturn landmark ruling preventing deportation of Aboriginal people »
- Indigenous people cannot be aliens in their own land. Why challenging this fact (again) is so concerning »
- Aboriginal spiritual connection to land no bar to deportation, Morrison government says »
- Government still fighting high court battle for power to deport Indigenous Australians from their own country »
- Government’s bid for an enhanced ‘character test’ is unnecessary – and unlikely to pass before the election anyway »
- ‘Disrespectful and wrong’: lawyers slam Coalition’s push to restore power to deport Aboriginal non-citizens »
- Government to challenge High Court ruling that Indigenous people cannot be considered aliens »
- Court rules minister can’t strip dual nationals of Australian citizenship for suspected terrorism »
- Three years after beating deportation, Indigenous Australians freed from visa limbo »
- ‘All I know is Australia’: Indigenous man left in immigration detention for more than three years »