The lawyers for Aboriginal man Daniel Love who is facing deportation to PNG are calling for a ministerial intervention.
The proud Kamilaroi man was born in PNG in 1979, and has been living in Australia since he was five on a permanent residency visa.
However despite having an Aboriginal Australian father, his parents didn't complete the necessary paperwork to make him an Australian citizen. His mother is from PNG.
Mr Love was due to start parole after being sentenced to 12 months in prison for assault occasioning bodily harm, when a delegate of the Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton cancelled his permanent residency visa due to his criminal record.
He has been held in Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre since August 10, awaiting deportation to PNG.
His lawyer, Rod Hodgson from Maurice Blackburn, has appealed to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to prevent a "terrible injustice".
“If ever there was a case for intervention, we think this is the case," he told NITV News.
“By any common sense measure, he’s Australian and the standards that’ve been applied in terms of interventions around au pairs and so on are ones that, when you compare and contrast this case - it really screams out for intervention."
Lawyers have filed an injunction in the High Court, arguing Mr Love - whose grandfather fought for Australia in WWII - shouldn't be treated as an 'alien' due to his Indigenous heritage and his father's Australian citizenship.
Born in PNG, Mr Love moved to Australia aged five, and has lived here ever since. Source: Supplied
"As we’ve seen in other contexts, in particular politicians, Daniel’s not the first person who hasn’t had the right paperwork," Mr Hodgson said.
"But he now finds himself in immigration detention, and we say that both legally and as a matter of humanity and compassion, that’s not the right spot for Daniel to be."
Lawyers say Mr Love's family are concerned for his welfare should he be forced to return to PNG.
Daniel's paternal grandfather, Douglas Love, fought for Australia in PNG in WWII. Source: Supplied
"Were he to be deported, the risks that he would face in PNG would be very grave indeed," Mr Hodgson says.
"He’s not lived there since he was a little boy, he has no family connection there, he’s a person of very limited means and PNG is a pretty rough place."
He says the 39-year-old has made no secret of his criminal history, and it would be "very, very unfair" to deport him on these grounds given the circumstances.
"He’s had some unfortunate circumstances in his life, he has owned up to his crimes and he has – as they say – done the crime and done the time," says Mr Hodgson.
"The issue is not in respect of his criminal history, it’s him being treated as someone to be deported with his visa cancellation."
A spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs told NITV News it would be inappropriate to comment while the case is before the courts.
