Twelve Aboriginal non-citizens will be released from immigration detention after the federal government respected a threatened High Court ruling.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, on Thursday, ruled that Aboriginal people who did not hold citizenship could not be deported.
The decision put an end to an attempt by the Morrison government to overturn Love and Thoms.
Determined in early 2020, the case established the precedent that Aboriginal people were not recognised as aliens, so could not be deported regardless of citizenship status.
In October of 2021, the government attempted to overturn the decision, using the case of Shayne Montgomery.
Mr Montgomery is a Wakka Wakka and Mununjahli man who was born in New Zealand.
Despite moving to Australia when he was young, he is not an Australian citizen and so was held in immigration detention after his visa was cancelled after he was convicted of a non-violent offence in 2018.
In November, only a month after the government launched their appeal, the Federal Court released Mr Montgomery.
Alongside discontinuing the court case, the Department of Immigration revoked the cancellation of Mr Montgomery’s visa.
“The previous government brought the appeal in Montgomery to the High Court in order to seek to overturn the High Court’s previous decision in Love & Thoms,” said a spokesperson for the Attorney-General.
“Love & Thoms has been the law of the land for more than two years now and the Albanese Government will not seek to overturn Love & Thoms.”
