Assessment of Off-shore Claims for Refugee Status

The article examines the narrow focus of the decision of the High Court in Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth; Plaintiff M69 of 2010 v Commonwealth [2010] HCA 41. The plaintiffs arrived by boat at the Territory of Christmas Island an 'excised offshore place' for the purposes of the Migration Act 1958. Hence they became unlawful noncitizens and could not make valid applications for a visa including a protection visa under the Act.