In a case described as a landmark trial, lawyers are asking the High Court to make a determination on whether Indigenous people can be considered as an 'alien' under the Australian constitution and therefore be exempt from the government's deportation powers.
Chief Justice Kiefel AC described the term 'alien' in simple terms as a person who is born in another country and does not hold Australian citizenship, whether they are Aboriginal or another foreign nationality.
Barrister Steven Keim SC acting on behalf of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, argued that Aboriginal people be exempt from the term ‘alien’ and said it was the "worst form of Australian deposition" to deport an Indigenous person based on the Constitutional definition of the term 'alien'.
He said the Court should keep up with the changing modern society and move away from a precedent that came into effect in 1901.
