PART 2: STATELESSNESS IN AUSTRALIA Australia has resettled stateless persons since at least World War II and ratified the relevant treaties comprising of ‘international stateless law,’ discussed further below.xl Yet, as noted in this Report above, little is understood about statelessness in Australia and significant gaps exist in protection for stateless people.xli In the absence of a specific visa category or other pathway to permanency for stateless people in Australia, many are left with the only option of seeking protection through an increasingly limited domestic refugee law framework, which seeks to punish and deter stateless refugees who arrived by boat to Australia seeking asylum.xlii It is a common misconception that anyone born in Australia automatically becomes an Australian citizen; this is not the case.xliii Despite not providing for birthright citizenship, Australian law does provide the ability for stateless children born in its territory to apply for citizenship, thus ending inter-generational cycle of statelessness within families and allowing these children to access a myriad of essential rights they would otherwise be excluded from enjoying. The problem is that 29