Taylor v Minister for Home Affairs [2022] FCA 309

Federal Court of Australia

Taylor v Minister for Home Affairs [2022] FCA 309 Appeal from: Application for judicial review of Taylor and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration) [2021] AATA 19

File number: VID 27 of 2021

Judgment of: MOSHINSKY J

Date of judgment: 30 March 2022

Catchwords: MIGRATION – habeas corpus – application for issue of writ of habeas corpus – where the applicant was born in the United Kingdom – where the applicant became an Australian citizen by conferral in 1988 – where the applicant renounced his Australian citizenship in 1995 – where the applicant was later granted a resident return visa – where the applicant was convicted of serious offences and sentenced to imprisonment for more than 12 months – where the applicant's visa was cancelled under s 501(3A) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) – where the applicant's application for revocation of the cancellation decision was refused by a delegate and that decision was affirmed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – whether the applicant was an "alien" in the constitutional sense and hence subject to the provisions of the Migration Act – whether the applicant's detention was unlawful – application dismissed CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – aliens – where the applicant was born in the United Kingdom – where the applicant became an Australian citizen by conferral in 1988 – where the applicant renounced his Australian citizenship in 1995 – where the applicant was later granted a resident return visa – whether the applicant was an "alien" in the constitutional sense and hence subject to the provisions of the Migration Act – where the applicant contended that he was not alien on the basis that he had been an Australian citizen, and his status as a non-alien continued notwithstanding his renunciation of his citizenship – where the applicant contended that he was not an alien on the basis that he had the essential characteristics of a non-alien – held: the applicant is an "alien"