Three years after beating deportation, Indigenous Australians freed from visa limbo

A group of Indigenous Australians who spent almost three years in limbo without basic human rights since the high court ruled they could not be deported as aliens have been granted special purpose visas allowing them to work, access Medicare and travel internationally.

Daniel Gibuma is a 58-year-old Torres Strait Islander who was born in Papua New Guinea and spent over two years in the Yongah Hill immigration detention centre in Western Australia after serving jail time for an assault charge.

In the time Gibuma spent in detention and the years since his release, his older brother and mother died and he was not able to attend their funerals. Gibuma also lost his six-year-old son, who was sent back to Papua New Guinea to live with family in his absence only to die due to illness in April 2022.

It is understood that fewer than 15 of the special purpose visas were issued on 22 December by the minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs to people released from detention in similar circumstances.

Gibuma and Charlie were able to pass the same tripartite test of Aboriginality that was first used in the Mabo case in 1992. The test is based on biological descent, self-identification and recognition of identity by a First Nations group.

The department did not answer questions about whether there are any other people in immigration detention centres who claim to be traditional custodians of Australian territory.