(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
In April last year, Trenton Oldfield interrupted the historic Cambridge-Oxford boat race up the River Thames when he dived in and swam between the boats.
The British Home Secretary ordered he be deported over the stunt, but Mr Oldfield has successfully appealed that decision.
Darren Mara has the details.
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Trenton Oldfield's protest during the 184-year-old race between two of the English-speaking world's most renowned universities took everyone by surprise.
A "shock" and "unprecedented" were the words used by the BBC commentary team that day.
Trent Oldfield was convicted of public nuisance and sentenced to six months in prison over the protest, which the 37-year-old says was made against what he called "entrenched elitism" in Britain.
His application for a spousal visa was then refused and the UK Home Office took the step of deeming him an "undesirable" individual.
He took his case to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in London and judge Kevin Moore decided to allow his appeal.
The judge agreed that Trenton Oldfield's good work in the community outweighed the inconvenience caused by his protest, which he has vowed never to repeat.
Trenton Oldfield says he's just happy to be able to return to his family and normal life again.
"Deportation is an old idea. It's from another time, from 1,000 years ago. We need to rethink that and the media's attention needs to be on not me any more, but the people going in and out of this building. That's where the real issues are. But I do thank you for the public interest and I'm delighted to be able to get back to work and spend time with my family."
The tribunal received letters attesting to Trenton Oldfield's good character from 23 people, who also attended the tribunal in case they were required to give oral evidence.
Some 265 Oxford and Cambridge alumni, staff and students also submitted letters of support.
Trenton Oldfield based his appeal against deportation partly on a claim that his British wife, who is of Indian descent, and his baby daughter would face racism in Australia.
He said that while most of it was what h e called "water cooler" or unintentional racism, he added that some Indians in Australia had been victims of assault or abuse in recent times.
His wife, Deepa Naik, told the judge she had never been to Australia and had no ties to the country or any community support.
After the successful appeal, lawyer Stephanie Harrison said Trenton Oldfield's insistence that Australia is a racist country was only a secondary argument.
"That wasn't the main argument. The important argument was the important work that Trenton does with the disadvantaged of our community and in terms of the inequalities in society and that is what the judge has really taken into account in making his decision."
Amarinder Bajwa is a spokesman for the Sydney-based United Indian Association.
He's refuted the claim that Australia is a racist country.
"Racism, if there is (any) in Australia we can understand in a different perspective. But here Mr Trenton Oldfield I think is just twisting the facts for his own benefit. I don't think that's the case of how racism is in Australia."
Mr Bajwa says Australia's reputation is still recovering from the reported incidents of racist attacks against Indian foreign students, mostly in Melbourne, in 2009.
Amarinder Bajwa says comments like those made by Trenton Oldfield play on the legacy of those attacks.
"Definitely. We've seen a lot of repercussions on that issue when actual racism was reported in world media. So definitely it does affect Australia's reputation."
