29 Lorena Allam and Nick Evershed, ‘Too Hot for Humans? First Nations People Fear Becoming Australia’s First Climate Refugees’, The Guardian (online, 18 December 2019). 30 Including the National Water Initiative (See Virginia Marshall, Overturning Aqua Nullius: Securing Aboriginal Water Rights (AIATSIS, 2017) 120) and the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission’s findings that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ interests have been marginalized, and that the Water Act’s governance fails to provide for the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (see South Australia, Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission Report (Report, 29 January 2019) chs 11 and 17). 31 Michael Gannon, ‘Close the clean drinking water gap’, Australian Medical Association (online, 14 November 2017). 32 Jane Bardon, ‘NT traditional owners’ concerns about fracking dominate Origin Energy AGM’, ABC News (online, 18 October 2018); Grace Dungey and Nick Rodway, ‘Fracking threatens Aboriginal land rights in Western Australia’, Mongabay (online, 21 November 2018); Ben Smee, ‘Fracking fears grow for rivers in Queensland’s channel country’ (online, 10 October 2019); Tom Hatton et al, Independent Scientific Panel Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation in Western Australia: Final Report to the Western Australian Government (Report, September 2018) 454-455, 518, 538; Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development, Hydraulic Fracturing (‘Fraccing’) Techniques, including Reporting Requirements and Governance Arrangements, Background Review’(Report, June 2014) 51-52. 33 National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan: Indigenous Communities (Report, 2012); Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change and Land: IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (Report, 7 August 2019) 381. 34 The Act denies Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples ‘free prior and informed consent’ in mine approvals affecting native title – without agreement, the tribunal can approve mining without awarding royalties; has a default decision making mechanism in land use agreements that is inconsistent with the right of self-determination; allows for compulsory acquisition of native title land for third party benefit; and provides for extinguishment of Native Title, and extinguishment prior to 1975 without compensation. 35 Referendum Council, Final Report of the Referendum Council (Report, 30 June 2017) I. 36 In addition, legislative changes in December 2014 resulted in more cancellation or refusal of visas for refugees and asylum seekers on character grounds. Those decisions do not give appropriate weight to non-refoulement obligations, resulting in protracted arbitrary detention for many. 37 2017 Senate Estimates indicate that 376 stateless persons were held in offshore detention, comprising 12% of all persons held in offshore detention: Legal and Constitutional Affairs Senate Estimates Committee, Question Taken on Notice, Additional Estimates Hearing (27 February 2017) Immigration and Border Protection Portfolio AE17/170. Neither Papua New Guinea nor Nauru are party to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 38 Available Australian Government statistics indicate that the number of stateless persons currently in Australia is, at a minimum, approximately 4,099 (See Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, Australian Border Force, Immigration Detention and Community Statistics Summary (Report, 31 October 2019) 8; Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, Australian Border Force, Illegal Maritime Arrivals on Bridging E Visa (Report, 30 September 2019); Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, IMA Legacy Caseload, Report on Processing Status Outcomes (Report, October 2019); Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Border protection, Onshore Humanitarian Program 2018-19; Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, Australia’s Offshore Humanitarian Program: 2018-19 (Report, 2019); Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, Key Statistics as at 31 October 2019 (Factsheet). In contrast to these government statistics, however, until recently the Australian Government was reporting ‘0’ stateless persons within Australian territory, and more recently 138 stateless persons (See: UNHCR, Global Trends – Forced Displacement in 2018 (Report, 2019)). 39 Australia also has no method of protecting stateless persons who do not qualify as refugees or for international protection. Statelessness is not a criterion for qualification for a protection visa. Australia’s international obligations to protect the rights of stateless people are found in a variety of instruments: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960); Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, opened for signature 30 August 1961, 989 UNTS 175 (entered into force 13 December 1975); Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 137 (entered into force 22 April 1954); Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN GAOR, 3rd sess, 183rd plen mtg, UN Doc A/810 (10 December 1948) art 15(1); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) art 24(3); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981) art 9; Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) art 7; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 30 March 2007, 2515 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 May 2008) art 18; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature 7 March 1966, 660 UNTS 195 (entered into force 4 January 1969) art 1(3), 5; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, opened for signature 10 December 1984, 1465 UNTS 85 (entered into force 26 June 1987). State based Stateless Determination Procedures are an implicit requirement of state parties meeting their obligations under the 1954 and 1961 Conventions (United Nations Secretary-General, Guidance Note of the Secretary-General, The United Nations and Statelessness, November 2018, 7; UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons under the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (2014) 6 [8]. 40 This is in line with the UNHCR #iBelong Campaign to end statelessness by 2024. Action 6 relates to establishing statelessness determination procedures. See United Nations, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014-2024 (Report, 2014). 41 Amy Remeikis, ‘Scott Morrison Attacks ‘Mindless Tribalism’ After Christchurch Massacre’, The Guardian (online, 18 March 2019); Australian Government, Multicultural Australia: United, Strong, Successful (Statement, March 2017). 27