Attorney-General for Cth v Tse Chu-Fai and Anor

The Attorney-General for the Commonwealth of Australia (the appellant) appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Federal Court of Australia concerning the validity of a deportation order made against Tse Chu-Fai and another (the respondents). The dispute centred on whether the respondents, who were citizens of Hong Kong, had been lawfully deported from Australia.

The High Court was required to determine whether the respondents were "aliens" within the meaning of section 7 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) at the time of their deportation. This involved considering whether their presence in Australia was lawful, notwithstanding their lack of a visa, and whether they had acquired Australian citizenship by birth. The central legal question was whether the respondents' father, who was a permanent resident of Australia at the time of their birth, had conferred Australian citizenship upon them under the *Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948* (Cth).

The Court's reasoning focused on the interpretation of the *Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948*. It was held that the provisions of that Act, particularly section 10, conferred citizenship by birth to children born in Australia whose fathers were Australian citizens or permanent residents at the time of birth. The Court found that the respondents' father was a permanent resident of Australia at the time of their birth, and therefore, they were born Australian citizens. Consequently, they were not "aliens" for the purposes of the *Migration Act* and could not be lawfully deported.

The appeal was dismissed.