Dispossession Cycles and Resistance: Historical Continuums in the Deportation of First Nations Peoples

Gerard, A; Gainsford, A

Dispossession Cycles and Resistance: Historical Continuums in the Deportation of First Nations Peoples

Gerard, A Gainsford, A

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Publisher:: SYDNEY LAW SCH
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: SYDNEY LAW REVIEW, 2024, 46, (3)
Issue Date:: 2024-09

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Gerard, A
dc.contributor.author	Gainsford, A https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8473-0681
dc.date.accessioned	2025-04-16T03:37:00Z
dc.date.available	2025-04-16T03:37:00Z
dc.date.issued	2024-09
dc.identifier.citation	SYDNEY LAW REVIEW, 2024, 46, (3)
dc.identifier.issn	0082-0512
dc.identifier.issn	1444-9528
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186907
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>This article surveys the historical and contemporary context of Indigenous peoples’ entanglement in systems of criminal justice and migration control. Government attempts to remove First Nations peoples from Australia under visa cancellation provisions present a striking contemporary development in border control. Despite the High Court of Australia’s ruling that ‘Aboriginal Australians’ cannot be ‘aliens’ and therefore subject to visa cancellation provisions, Indigenous peoples continue to be targeted for exclusion and subject to the gaze of border control authorities. We use documentary research and draw on two case studies to explore the historical use of deportation to target First Nations peoples. We identify previous attempts to achieve law reform to rectify past injustices and prevent Indigenous peoples from being caught up in migration laws aimed at excluding non-citizens. We review the extensive literature on Love v Commonwealth and analyse the expanded visa cancellation provisions that have resulted in increased numbers of people being targeted for removal, and removed, from Australia. When analysed against the long shadow of colonisation, we argue that these applications of criminal and migration law represent a continuation of attempted exclusion and dispossession that has been, and continues to be, actively resisted by Indigenous peoples. In analysing the cyclical nature of dispossession and its resistance, the complex interaction of criminal and migration law can be seen to have created novel impacts for First Nations peoples in Australia.</jats:p>
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	SYDNEY LAW SCH
dc.relation.ispartof	SYDNEY LAW REVIEW
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.30722/slr.20596
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1801 Law
dc.subject.classification	48 Law and legal studies
dc.title	Dispossession Cycles and Resistance: Historical Continuums in the Deportation of First Nations Peoples
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	46
utslib.for	1801 Law
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-04-16T03:36:58Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	46
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

This article surveys the historical and contemporary context of Indigenous peoples’ entanglement in systems of criminal justice and migration control. Government attempts to remove First Nations peoples from Australia under visa cancellation provisions present a striking contemporary development in border control. Despite the High Court of Australia’s ruling that ‘Aboriginal Australians’ cannot be ‘aliens’ and therefore subject to visa cancellation provisions, Indigenous peoples continue to be targeted for exclusion and subject to the gaze of border control authorities. We use documentary research and draw on two case studies to explore the historical use of deportation to target First Nations peoples. We identify previous attempts to achieve law reform to rectify past injustices and prevent Indigenous peoples from being caught up in migration laws aimed at excluding non-citizens. We review the extensive literature on Love v Commonwealth and analyse the expanded visa cancellation provisions that have resulted in increased numbers of people being targeted for removal, and removed, from Australia. When analysed against the long shadow of colonisation, we argue that these applications of criminal and migration law represent a continuation of attempted exclusion and dispossession that has been, and continues to be, actively resisted by Indigenous peoples. In analysing the cyclical nature of dispossession and its resistance, the complex interaction of criminal and migration law can be seen to have created novel impacts for First Nations peoples in Australia.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186907