Australian Papuan Civil Rights Council Incorporated

Former territory of Papua case dismissed

The Australian Papuan Civil Rights Council Incorporated and its president, Ian Smith Ikowari, filed the case in the National Court in 2014.

They argued that pre-Independence Papuans are Australian citizens, so they have real foreign citizenship and therefore are not Papua New Guinea citizens.

Their claim was based on the following propositions:

(a)          Papua New Guinea became a nation contrary to international law;

(b)          Pre-Independence Papuans are Australian citizens under Australian law;