The unfinished business of colonisation

Abstract

Last week the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in Love and Thoms v The Commonwealth. As reported here in December, the plaintiffs, Daniel Love and Brendan Thoms, are both non-citizen Aboriginal men who have lived in Australia since they were young. The government tried to deport them because they each have a criminal record. The men appealed against their deportation, arguing that the government did not have the power to deport them under the constitution.