No doubt the editors of Australian women's magazines are jockeying to arrange a paid interview deal now that the "Schapelle Corby " story is reaching its final conclusion. On May 27 next year Schapelle will reach the end of her parole in Bali and the Indonesian government will serve a deportation order and put her on a plane back to Australia.
This all started way back on October 8, 2004 when customs officers at Denpasar airport in Bali discovered four kilograms of Marijuana in a passengers boogie-board bag. That passenger was twenty-four year old Schapelle Corby, a beautiful Australian girl who denied any knowledge of how this drug got into her luggage.
Schapelle became a media sensation. She was held in the notorious Kerobokan prison and her prolonged trial became almost a running soap opera. The Indonesian authorities were relentless and she was convicted - and ordered to serve a twenty year prison sentence. Appeal after appeal followed and the sentence was commuted to fifteen years - and the media kept its interest. Schapelle was the subject of several books, a mini TV series and regular updates on her life behind bars. Finally, she was granted parole and ordered to serve the rest of her sentence under the spotlight in the Bali community.
Now thirty-nine, she will have to learn to integrate into an Australia that has vastly changed since her absence. No doubt having family will help and the fact that her incarceration has made her a celebrity will ensure that she does not lack for money. Australia was fascinated by her arrest in Indonesia and widely split over her guilt or innocence. For the first time, they will get a first hand opportunity to hear how this long saga unfolded.
Deportation is a topical subject here at the moment. When a terrorist sympathiser has served prison for their crimes we kick them out of the country if they are not Australian citizens. What is surprising is the number of people who are not Australian citizens and who have no idea that the spectre of deportation would apply to them if they were ever convicted of a serious crime.
After the end of the second world war Australia was very aware of the "populate or perish " threat that our presence in a crowded Asia delivered. We opened our doors to refugees from Europe and in particular we subsidized migration from the British Isles with the "Ten pound Pom " scheme. Basically, the Australian government picked up the tab and residents of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales got a six week boat trip to Australia in exchange for ten English pounds.
As a further inducement, those coming from the British Isles were granted rights not available to non British migrants. They were not required to apply for Australian citizenship to be eligible to vote in Federal, state or council elections. In the minds of many such people, they assumed that they had been granted automatic Australian citizenship.
This was confusing for babies arriving with their parents. When they reached school age they were accepted into a local school and if someone asked their nationality they would confidently claim to be Australian, and when they came of age they would be granted the same voting rights as their parents. For all intents and purposes they believed they were Australian.
Unfortunately, the precise letter of the law delivers a different outcome. Without making the effort to seek and obtain Australian citizenship they are foreigners and should they be convicted of a serious crime, on release they would be deported to their country of birth - Britain.
Perhaps if nothing else, Schapelle Corby's deportation back to Australia may serve a useful purpose if it reminds many now old Australians who came here as young children to check their immigration status. Some will find - to their horror - that they are merely "granted residency " rather than Australian citizens as far as the law is concerned.
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