In short:
An Ombudsman report has set out a litany of errors spanning four decades that led to a citizen's unlawful detention.
asserted
that → set → detention
Another non-citizen was wrongfully detained for 304 days.
What's next?
asserted
What → detain → days
The report has made three recommendations to the government, including better communication between the Home Affairs Department and the minister.
asserted
report → make → Department
An Australian citizen is among 30 people unlawfully held in immigration detention in the last financial year, according to a Commonwealth Ombudsman report.
uncertain
citizen → hold → report
The person, named as Mx B, was wrongfully detained by Home Affairs for 945 days — two and a half years — due to incorrect reading of Australia's citizenship laws.
asserted
person → name → laws
Mx B was born in Australia in 1989 to New Zealand parents, briefly left, then returned in 1992, and should have been granted automatic citizenship on their 10th birthday in accordance with the Citizenship Act.
asserted
B → bear → Act
But this did not occur due to "poor record keeping".
asserted
this → occur → keeping
The Ombudsman report sets out a litany of departmental errors, incorrect assumptions and failed checks spanning four decades.
asserted
report → set → decades
After growing up in Australia, Mx B was convicted of criminal offences and sentenced to prison in 2010 at the age of 21.
asserted
B → grow → 21
In 2018, while in jail, Home Affairs carried out a citizenship status assessment and incorrectly found Mx B was not an Australian citizen, due to their brief departure from the country as a baby.
asserted
B → carry → baby
"They [Mx B] were assessed as not having been ordinarily resident [in Australia] for the first 10 years of their life," the Ombudsman report said.
asserted
report → assess → life
"Officers failed to consider relevant case law about absences from Australia.
asserted
Officers → fail → Australia
In 2019, the department, acting on the mistaken understanding that Mx B was a New Zealand citizen in Australia on a special category visa, considered whether to cancel Mx B's visa on character grounds, but found their visa had ended in the 1990s.
asserted
visa → act → 1990s
A second citizenship assessment again determined Mx B was not a citizen, which the Ombudsman described as another "failure to consider all available information and relevant case law".
asserted
Ombudsman → determine → information
Upon Mx B's release from jail in 2022, the department placed them into immigration detention.
asserted
department → place → detention
"Mx B claimed to be an Australian citizen on multiple occasions throughout their detention," the Ombudsman report stated.
asserted
report → claim → detention
In 2024, Mx B's legal representative sent the department correspondence regarding Mx B's claimed Australian citizenship.
asserted
representative → send → citizenship
"The Department completed a further citizenship status assessment for Mx B based on existing information in its systems," the report states.
asserted
report → complete → systems
For the third time, the department determined Mx B was not an Australian citizen, "failing to take into account the new information indicated by Mx B's legal representative".
asserted
B → determine → representative
Eventual release after High Court NZYQ ruling
In November 2023, the High Court's NZYQ ruling found the indefinite detention of non-citizens where there was no reasonable prospect of removal was illegal.
asserted
detention → find → removal
That triggered the release of more than 300 people from immigration detention.
asserted
That → trigger → detention
Mx B was not one of them, remaining in detention until April 2025, when the New Zealand government told the Home Affairs department that Mx B was not a New Zealand citizen.
"
asserted
B → remain → department
The Department subsequently found Mx B to be affected by the outcome in NZYQ because their removal from Australia was not reasonably practicable in the foreseeable future," the Ombudsman report said.
asserted
report → find → future
On the same day, the Department granted Mx B a Removal Pending bridging visa on strict conditions and released them from held detention."
asserted
Department → grant → detention
A fourth and final citizenship assessment found that Mx B was an Australian citizen.
asserted
B → find → ?
'Mx A' wrongfully detained for 304 days
Mx B is not alone.
asserted
B → detain → days
The Ombudsman report found 30 out of the 4,247 people placed into immigration detention between July 2024 and June 2025 were unlawfully detained.
asserted
30 → find → July
Of those, 60 per cent of cases were due to a delay in communicating a ministerial visa approval to the department, leaving 18 people in unlawful detention for one day.
asserted
cent → communicate → day
One individual, known as Mx A, was wrongfully detained for 304 days due to a decision maker's "incorrect understanding of the law".
asserted
individual → know → law
Of those affected, none have filed compensation claims against the government.
uncertain
none → affect → government
The report has made three recommendations, including that the department work with the Home Affairs minister to "formalise policies and procedures relating to the communication of Ministerial intervention decision".
asserted
department → make → decision
It also recommended Home Affairs apologise to those impacted.
asserted
Affairs → recommend → those
The Home Affairs department has been contacted for comment.
asserted
department → contact → comment
The Aporia