2016] The Protection of Stateless Persons in Australian Law 419 Of course, all these statistics must be approached with caution as they do not provide any breakdown by cohort, ethnicity, or country of former habitual residence. Thus, it is likely that the overall approval rates for some groups will vary dramatically from others, as is the case in refugee status determination in Australia in general.90 The figures are broadly comparable with overall rates of success for onshore arrivals who are not stateless, indicating that the Australian government accepts the fundamental proposition that stateless persons can qualify for refugee status if they meet the requirements of the refugee definition.91 However, it is important to note that the lack of a statelessness status determination procedure, and the deficiencies outlined below in existing departmental guidelines relevant to identifying stateless persons, means that there is currently no verifiable method of discerning overall success rates for de jure stateless persons who seek protection in Australia. While the precise ethnic composition of stateless persons in Australia is unclear, there is agreement about the predominant groups. According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s Procedures Advice Manual 3 (‘PAM3’), ‘[t]he four largest cohorts of PV [Protection Visa] applicants claiming to be stateless [in Australia] are: Burmese Rohingya, Faili Kurds (from Iran and Iraq), Kuwaiti Bidoon,92 and Palestinians (from Iraq).’93 In terms of those in immigration detention who are awaiting status determination or deportation, government figures suggest that as at 30 September 2015, 81 people in immigration detention in Australia (including the Australian mainland and Christmas Island) were classified as stateless by the Department.94 It is important to note that there is no publicly available information as to how the Department has classified such persons as stateless. Additionally, since there is no stateless determination process in Australia, as discussed below, it is likely that people could be wrongly classified and the number of persons who are stateless and in detention could be much higher. 90 For example, an analysis of Refugee Review Tribunal annual reports indicates that there can be very significant divergences in terms of success rates between applicants based on country of origin. 91 See below Part V. 92 Also referred to as Bedoun, Bedoon, Bidun and Bidoun. 93 Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Cth), Procedures Advice Manual 3: Refugee and Humanitarian — Protection Visas — All Applications — Common Processing Guidelines (16 February 2016) 126 [80.1]. The authors refer to the February 2016 version of this source, which was the most current at the time of writing. Note that the October 2016 version is substantially similar for the purposes of this article. 94 Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Cth)/Australian Border Force, Immigration Detention and Community Statistics Summary (30 September 2015) 8.