Love v Commonwealth of Australia and Thoms v Commonwealth of Australia

• Jurisdiction: Australia Federal only
• Judge: Kiefel CJ.,Bell J.,Gageler J.,Keane J.,Nettle J.,Gordon J.,Edelman J.
• Judgment Date: 11 February 2020
• Neutral Citation: [2020] HCA 3
• Court: High Court
• Docket Number: B43/2018 & B64/2018
• Date: 11 February 2020

[2020] HCA 3

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Kiefel CJ, Bell, Gageler, Keane, Nettle, Gordon and Edelman JJ

B43/2018 & B64/2018

Daniel Alexander Love

Plaintiff

and

Commonwealth of Australia

Defendant

Brendan Craig Thoms

Plaintiff

and

Commonwealth of Australia

Defendant

Representation

S J Keim SC with K E Slack and A J Hartnett for the plaintiff in each matter (instructed by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers)

S P Donaghue QC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth, with N M Wood and J D Watson for the defendant in both matters (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)

P G Willis SC with T B Goodwin for the Attorney-General for the State of Victoria, intervening in both matters (instructed by Victorian Government Solicitor) at the hearing on 5 December 2019

Constitution, s 51(xix), (xxvii).

Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth), ss 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.

Migration Act 1958 (Cth), ss 5, 14, 189, 196, 198, 200, 501.

Constitutional law (Cth) — Powers of Commonwealth Parliament – Power to make laws with respect to naturalisation and aliens — Meaning of “aliens” — Where plaintiffs foreign citizens, born outside Australia, who did not acquire Australian citizenship — Where plaintiffs biological descendants of indigenous peoples — Where plaintiffs' visas cancelled under s 501(3A) of Migration Act 1958 (Cth) — Whether statutory citizenship and constitutional alienage co-terminous — Whether an Aboriginal Australian (defined according to tripartite test in Mabo v Queensland [No 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1) can be “alien” within meaning of s 51(xix) of Constitution — Whether s 51(xix) supports application of ss 14, 189 and 198 of Migration Act to plaintiffs — Whether plaintiffs satisfy tripartite test.

Words and phrases — “Aboriginal Australian”, “alienage”, “aliens”, “allegiance”, “body politic”, “citizen”, “connection to country”, “essential meaning”, “foreign citizen”, “indicia of alienage”, “nationality”, “non-alien”, “non-alienage”, “non-citizen”, “obligation of protection”, “political community”, “polity”, “sovereignty”, “spiritual connection”, “subject”, “territory”, “traditional laws and customs”, “tripartite test”, “unlawful non-citizen”.

ORDER

Matter No B43/2018

The questions stated in the special case for the opinion of the Full Court are answered as follows:

• 1. Is the plaintiff an “alien” within the meaning of s 51(xix) of the Constitution?

  Answer: The majority considers that Aboriginal Australians (understood according to the tripartite test in Mabo v Queensland [No 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1 at 70) are not within the reach of the “aliens” power conferred by s 51(xix) of the Constitution. The majority is unable, however, to agree as to whether the plaintiff is an Aboriginal Australian on the facts stated in the special case and, therefore, is unable to answer this question.

• 2. Who should pay the costs of this special case?

  Answer: The defendant.

Matter No B64/2018

The questions stated in the special case for the opinion of the Full Court are answered as follows:

• 1. Is the plaintiff an “alien” within the meaning of s 51(xix) of the Constitution?

  Answer: Aboriginal Australians (understood according to the tripartite test in Mabo v Queensland [No 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1 at 70) are not within the reach of the “aliens” power conferred by s 51(xix) of the Constitution. The plaintiff is an Aboriginal Australian and, therefore, the answer is “No”.

• 2. Who should pay the costs of this special case?

  Answer: The defendant.

1 Kiefel CJ. These two special cases raise questions concerning s 51(xix) of the Constitution, which provides that the Commonwealth Parliament has power to make laws “for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: … naturalization and aliens”. The plaintiffs argue that the power should be read so as not to apply to a person who is not a citizen of Australia, who is a citizen of a foreign country and is not naturalised as an Australian citizen, but who is an Aboriginal person. That is to say, the plaintiffs contend that s 51(xix) is subject to an unexpressed limitation or exception.

2 Each of the plaintiffs was born outside Australia – Mr Love in Papua New Guinea and Mr Thoms in New Zealand. They are citizens of those countries. They have both lived in Australia for substantial periods as holders of visas which permitted their residence but which were subject to revocation. They did not seek to become Australian citizens. Their visas were cancelled by a delegate of the Minister for Home Affairs under s 501(3A) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), the relevant effect of which is to require the Minister to cancel a person's visa if the person has been convicted of an offence for which a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or more is provided 1. Upon cancellation of their visas the plaintiffs became unlawful non-citizens 2 and liable to be removed from Australia.

3 The Migration Act and the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth) (“the Citizenship Act”) are enacted under s 51(xix) 3. The plaintiffs do not challenge the provisions of those statutes. They do not contend that the criteria stated in the Citizenship Act for Australian citizenship and the inference to be drawn from those criteria respecting the status of alien is not within the power given by s 51(xix). They contend that they are outside the purview of those statutes and s 51(xix) because they have a special status as a “non-citizen, non-alien”. They say that they have that status because although they are non-citizens they cannot be aliens because they are Aboriginal persons. Mr Thoms identifies, and is accepted by other Gunggari People, as a member of the Gunggari People. He is a common law holder of native title which has been recognised by determinations made by the Federal Court of Australia 4. Mr Love identifies as a descendant of the Kamilaroi group and is recognised as such by one Elder of that group.

The question of law

4 The question of law stated for the opinion of this Court in these special cases is whether each of the plaintiffs is an “alien” within the meaning of s 51(xix). The question as framed is apt to mislead as to the role of this Court. It is not for this Court to determine whether persons having the characteristics of the plaintiffs are aliens. Such an approach would involve matters of values and policy. It would usurp the role of the Parliament. The question is perhaps best understood to be directed to whether it is open to the Commonwealth Parliament to treat persons having the characteristics of the plaintiffs as non-citizens for the purposes of the Migration Act.

Section 51(xix)

5 Section 51(xix) gives the Commonwealth Parliament power to choose the criteria for alienage 5. It gives the Parliament the power to provide the means by which that status is altered, which is to say by naturalisation. It gives the Parliament power to determine the conditions upon which a non-citizen may become a citizen and to attribute to any person who lacks the qualifications for citizenship the status of alien 6. It is now regarded as settled that it is for the Parliament, relying on s 51(xix), to create and define the concept of Australian citizenship and its antonym, alienage 7.

6 At Federation it was well recognised that an attribute of an independent sovereign State was to decide who were aliens and whether they should become members of the community 8. It was a view held by international jurists of the time

and was followed by the courts of the United Kingdom 9. At Federation there were two leading theories about the status of subject or citizen and how it was to be determined. On one view that status was acquired by descent; on the other it was acquired by reference to a person's place of birth. The latter reflected the view of the common law, earlier expressed in Calvin's Case 10, but which had been modified by statute in the United Kingdom. But by s 51(xix) it was to be left to the Commonwealth Parliament to deal with the subject matter of aliens 11

7 Following Federation it was open to the Commonwealth Parliament to choose one or more of the common law approaches, or variations of them, so long as what was chosen could be said truly to answer the description of “alien” 12. In Pochi v Macphee 13, Gibbs CJ acknowledged that, necessarily, there must be a limit to Parliament's powers to determine who comes within the definition of an “alien”. The limit to which his Honour referred was that Parliament could not expand the power under s 51(xix) by defining as aliens persons who could not possibly answer the description of an “alien” in the ordinary understanding of that word. No question of that kind 14 arises in these special cases. The plaintiffs do not suggest that the criteria stated in the Citizenship Act are beyond the power of the Parliament. Rather, they argue that neither that statute nor s 51(xix) applies to a person who is a non-citizen, a citizen of a foreign country and an Aboriginal person.

8 Section 51(xix) is not expressed to be subject to any prohibition, limitation or exception respecting Aboriginal persons. The task of this Court, in interpreting a provision of the Constitution, is to expound its text and where necessary to ascertain what is implied in it. Needless to say, questions of constitutional

interpretation cannot depend on what the Court perceives to be a desirable policy 15 regarding the subject of who should be aliens or the desirability of Aboriginal non-citizens continuing to reside in Australia. The point presently to be made is that in the absence of a relevant constitutional prohibition or exception, express or implied, it is not a proper function of a court to limit the method of exercise of legislative power 16. The question then is whether the plaintiffs can point to an implication by the accepted methods of constitutional interpretation

The Citizenship Act and the Australian body politic

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