An ombudsman report has set out a litany of errors spanning four decades that led to a citizen's unlawful detention.
An Australian citizen is among 30 people unlawfully held in immigration detention in the last financial year, according to a Commonwealth Ombudsman report.
The person, named as Mx B, was wrongfully detained by Home Affairs for 945 days — two and a half years — due to incorrect reading of Australia's citizenship laws.
Mx B was born in Australia in 1989 to New Zealand parents, briefly left, then returned in 1992, and should have been granted automatic citizenship on their 10th birthday in accordance with the Citizenship Act. But this did not occur due to "poor record keeping".
The report has made three recommendations to the government, including better communication between the Home Affairs Department and the minister.