Carrying Your Passport In Your Home Country?
It may come down to that:
The lawyer for a Chinese-born Australian man held at Sydney's Villawood detention centre for three days in 2002 has warned overseas-born Australians to carry proof of citizenship at all times.
A man identified only as 'Howard' was detained with his three-year-old Australian-born son despite telling immigration officials he had an Australian passport.
Howard's lawyer, Nick McNally, says his client showed officials his Medicare card, driver's licence and employment papers, and told them he had an Australian passport....
Mr McNally says the officials did not check Howard's history and only released him after lawyers took his passport to the Immigration Department.
"Prior to our lawyer travelling out there, we had faxed certified copies of those documents and that still wasn't enough," he said.
Howard is now suing the Federal Government for unlawful detention....
Five years after Howard became an Australian citizen, he was detained along with his girlfriend and their son.
His girlfriend had overstayed her visa.
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