Lawyers for a Vietnam veteran awaiting deportation in immigration detention have called on the federal government to release the man they believe has earned the right to stay in Australia.
RSL Veterans Centre advocate Nick Wiesener says 69-year-old Michael McFadden has been held at Sydney's Villawood detention centre for three months.
He says the war veteran, who has lived in Australia since he was 10 years old, had his permanent visa cancelled after he was jailed for minor offences - directly related to the brain damage he incurred from untreated post traumatic stress disorder from the war.
New laws allow the government to automatically cancel the visa of any non-citizen who serves a sentence of 12 months or more, immediately after they are released from prison.
Mr Wiesener said this meant a man who fought to protect Australia is now being deported from it.
Not only that, but he is being taken from his family, including his three children and six grandchildren.
Mr Wiesener said Mr McFadden's lawyers have appealed to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to release him into the care of the RSL Veterans Centre.
RSL Veterans Centre, Sydney, which launched in December last year, is staffed by volunteers and is a legal centre dedicated to defence personnel and veterans.
The group has been lobbying for Mr McFadden's release for two months - playing a waiting game to find out whether the deportation order will be overturned.
"He's not even cognisant of the situation he's in," Mr Wiesener said of Mr McFadden, who also developed alcohol dependence from serving in Vietnam.
"He doesn't understand the concept ... he's certainly not a well man."
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