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The miracle baby Australia doesn’t want · The Front

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  Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker
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  Speaker 1: the news from the Australian. From the Australian, here's what's
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  Speaker 1: on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Thursday, June thirteenth.
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  Speaker 1: The Greens and pro Climate Senate crossbenches a vowing to
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  Speaker 1: block any attempt by a future coalition government to weaken
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  Speaker 1: Australia's emissions reduction targets. That's after Peter Dutton said he'd
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  Speaker 1: slow down Australia's energy transition in the short term. Police
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  Speaker 1: involved in the flawed initial investigation into the disappearance of
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  Speaker 1: mother of two bromwin Winfield put surveillance on a clairvoyant,
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  Speaker 1: but not on her estranged husband. A local fortune teller
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  Speaker 1: and tarot card reader, was the only person regarded with
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  Speaker 1: suspicion by investigators immediately after Bromwyin vanished in nineteen ninety three.
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  Speaker 1: That's the new revelation in episode five of our podcast Bromwyn,
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  Speaker 1: available now at Bronwyn podcast dot com. Immigration Minister Andrew
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  Speaker 1: Giles has fought all the way to the Federal Court
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  Speaker 1: to prevent a Chinese born young woman becoming an Australian
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  Speaker 1: citizen today. Why the minister at the center of a
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  Speaker 1: scandal about allowing criminals to stay in Australia says this
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  Speaker 1: young woman is not entitled to citizenship. N G Sue
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  Speaker 1: was born in China in two thousand and one, the
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  Speaker 1: daughter of a fifteen year old mother. After a long
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  Speaker 1: and difficult labour ending in an emergency cesarean, the baby
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  Speaker 1: was abandoned by her mum. Angie was born with significant
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  Speaker 1: brain hemorrhaging and she was diagnosed as having suffered brain
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  Speaker 1: damage because of a lack of oxygen during delivery. She
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  Speaker 1: had three lumps on her head and was suffering seizures.
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  Speaker 1: Shortly after birth, an Australian woman happened to be working
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  Speaker 1: in the village and heard about the baby's situation. Alexandra
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  Speaker 1: Jagleman was working as medical director of a local charity
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  Speaker 1: running a clinic for pregnant women and children. She had
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  Speaker 1: met the baby's mother a few months earlier, conducting a
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  Speaker 1: prenatal check about halfway through her pregnancy. Here's how Alexandra
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  Speaker 1: Jagleman described what happened next. We've used a voice actor
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  Speaker 1: to bring you her words from a statement to court.
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  Speaker 2: The doctors at the hospital told the birth parents that
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  Speaker 2: the baby would not be normal and would never speak.
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  Speaker 2: My colleague was contacted and was asked by the birth
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  Speaker 2: family if I, as the medical director for the NGO
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  Speaker 2: whom they'd met at the village clinic, could confirm that
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  Speaker 2: the baby had problems so that they could decapitate it.
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  Speaker 1: The baby's community are Lahou, a hill tribe living mainly
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  Speaker 1: in Yunnan Province in China's southeast, close to the border
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  Speaker 1: with Thailand. They practice a faith called animism, a belief
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  Speaker 1: that spirituality is in all of nature, that plants and
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  Speaker 1: animals have souls. One of their beliefs, according to Jaglemen,
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  Speaker 1: was that children with disabilities were cursed. Jagleman was standing
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  Speaker 1: in a street with her three children walking home from
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  Speaker 1: work when her colleague told her the birth family had
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  Speaker 1: asked if she could assess the baby.
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  Speaker 2: I immediately agreed to help. However, I told him it
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  Speaker 2: can be very difficult to know the extent of brain
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  Speaker 2: damage in a newborn, and if I do find there
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  Speaker 2: are any signs of brain damage, I would not allow
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  Speaker 2: them to get the baby.
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  Speaker 1: I would take the baby.
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  Speaker 2: No matter the problem. Upon hearing the threat to the
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  Speaker 2: baby's life. I immediately decided I would raise her as
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  Speaker 2: my own daughter, no matter the disabilities, in order to
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  Speaker 2: save her life.
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  Speaker 1: She arrived at the hospital and saw the baby's desperate situation.
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  Speaker 1: She was having constant seizures and had not been fed
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  Speaker 1: since birth. I spoke with the birth parents and confirmed
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  Speaker 1: what the pediatrician had said that it was very likely
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  Speaker 1: that the baby had some brain damage, although it was
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  Speaker 1: impossible to say what the extent would be. The birth
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  Speaker 1: parents immediately turned around and walked out of the hospital.
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  Speaker 2: The pediatrician asked if I would take responsibility for the baby.
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  Speaker 2: I said yes, I'll raise the baby and be her mother.
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  Speaker 2: I told her I'd pay for all the medical expenses,
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  Speaker 2: including the emergency cesarean section for the birth mother and
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  Speaker 2: all medical expenses. I then asked for a bottle of
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  Speaker 2: milk formula and proceeded to sit on the hospital bed
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  Speaker 2: and successfully fed her despite her abnormal reflexes. I gave
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  Speaker 2: her the name Hope.
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  Speaker 1: True to her word, Alexandra J. Goleman became the baby's mother,
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  Speaker 1: giving the child her first bottle. Baby Angie had a
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  Speaker 1: remarkable recovery.
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  Speaker 3: To say, things looked bleak early in Angie's life is
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  Speaker 3: certainly an understatement.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Garvey is the Australian's West Australia Bureau chief.
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  Speaker 3: So after that start, here we are more than twenty
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  Speaker 3: years later, and Angie, he also goes by the name
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  Speaker 3: of Hope, is a thriving, vibrant young woman, no lingering
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  Speaker 3: ill effects from those horrific brain injuries sustained during her birth.
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  Speaker 3: In many different senses, a miraculous story here She's alive
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  Speaker 3: and well. The only issue is her citizenship.
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  Speaker 1: He's spent months recently deeply reporting some of the curliest
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  Speaker 1: cases that come before Australia's courts and tribunals relating to immigration,
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  Speaker 1: visas and citizenship.
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  Speaker 3: It's quite startling. So I have been living and breathing
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  Speaker 3: various court decisions in this immigration space now for the
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  Speaker 3: past few weeks, I've literally been reading these decisions in
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  Speaker 3: my sleep. I have dreams where I'm reading more direction
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  Speaker 3: A nine decisions. And then to come across this Federal
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  Speaker 3: Court decision finding that this girl born in these incredibly
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  Speaker 3: difficult circumstances, taken in, supported and raised by this for
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  Speaker 3: all intents and purposes, this is wonderful woman. Who's dedicated
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  Speaker 3: her life to helping these disadvantaged people. To see that's
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  Speaker 3: then challenged by the government, by the Immigration Minister, to
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  Speaker 3: have her citizenship opposed in this sort of way really
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  Speaker 3: is quite jarring when you see the extents that have
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  Speaker 3: been taken from a legislative perspective to make it less
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  Speaker 3: likely for convicted criminals to be deported through Direction A nine.
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  Speaker 3: To then see the same minister who introduced those easier
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  Speaker 3: set of conditions for those convicted criminals to then turn
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  Speaker 3: around and challenge and fights the citizenship for this young
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  Speaker 3: woman who has been raised in this Australian family here
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  Speaker 3: in life. It's quite disturbing to see.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty three, the Federal government declined n GSU's
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  Speaker 1: application for citizenship.
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  Speaker 3: So this falls to a question of law around when
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  Speaker 3: someone is entitled to claim Australian citizenship by descent. So
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  Speaker 3: under the law, if your parents at the time of
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  Speaker 3: your birth is an Australian citizen, then you basically will
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  Speaker 3: receive Australian citizenship. This case is a lot more complicated
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  Speaker 3: than that though, because at the very moment when this
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  Speaker 3: child came out of the womb and was born, her
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  Speaker 3: biological parents. This fifteen year old girl and her partner,
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  Speaker 3: they were not Australian citizens. Now, Alexander Jagelman, she was
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  Speaker 3: certainly an Australian, but at that precise moment when this
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  Speaker 3: child was born, she was not that child's mother. So
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  Speaker 3: what the lawyers have been fighting over in the Misty
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  Speaker 3: of Appeals Tribunal and then the Federal Court is at
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  Speaker 3: what point those definitions of a child being born actually
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  Speaker 3: take effect. If it is that simple moment of leaving
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  Speaker 3: the worm, or if it's something more complex and nuanced,
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  Speaker 3: which is what the AAT found that the moment that
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  Speaker 3: this child was known to have a brain injury was
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  Speaker 3: effectively the point at which Jableman became her mother. So
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  Speaker 3: that's the legal point that this case hinges on.
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  Speaker 1: She went to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and argued Alexandra
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  Speaker 1: Jagleman was her mother, that because she'd been involved in
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  Speaker 1: the pregnancy and had given the baby her first food,
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  Speaker 1: she was the equivalent of a biological parent, and the
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  Speaker 1: Administrative Appeals Tribunal agreed.
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  Speaker 3: And the Federal Court came in with a much stricter
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  Speaker 3: interpretation on that overturned the AAT decision. And found that
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  Speaker 3: at the point of birth this child's parents were indeed
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  Speaker 3: the biological parents who were not Australian citizens. Yep.
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  Speaker 1: The Minister, Andrew Giles, appealed the tribunal's decision to the
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  Speaker 1: Federal Court of Australia. Here's what the Minister's lawyers argued
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of the Commonwealth. They're being read by a
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  Speaker 1: voice actor.
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  Speaker 4: The Tribunal ought to have construed the phrase at the
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  Speaker 4: time of the birth as meeting the precise moment in
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  Speaker 4: time on the particular day that a child is born,
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  Speaker 4: and the facts, as found by the Tribunal fell necessarily
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  Speaker 4: outside the description of at the time of Miss Sue's birth.
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  Speaker 1: Enji's lawyers said at the time of birth that phrase
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  Speaker 1: could apply to the first few days of a baby's life.
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  Speaker 1: In a judgment handed down on June five, the justices
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  Speaker 1: throughout the Aat's ruling and held up the decision made
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  Speaker 1: by Giles to refuse Enji's citizenship. In their judgment, they wrote.
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  Speaker 5: The time of birth of a child is not a
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  Speaker 5: period of indefinite duration. In its ordinary meaning, the phrase
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  Speaker 5: denotes the point in time from which a baby exists
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  Speaker 5: or starts life outside of his or her birth mother's body.
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  Speaker 1: They said the phrase at the time of birth wasn't
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  Speaker 1: applied correctly by the AAT, and therefore its finding couldn't stand.
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  Speaker 5: Although Miss Jagleman has undertaken a prenatal check of Miss
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  Speaker 5: Sue's biological mother when she was five months pregnant, Miss
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  Speaker 5: Jagleman did not, at the time of that check, or
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  Speaker 5: any time prior to being informed of Miss Sue's birth, acknowledge,
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  Speaker 5: represent or assume any parental responsibilities for Miss Sue.
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  Speaker 1: They also offered a heartfelt acknowledgment of Jagleman's gesture.
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  Speaker 5: The application of that narrow time requirement to the facts
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  Speaker 5: of the present case is heartbreaking. Miss Jagleman's dedication and
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  Speaker 5: devotion to her daughter is unquestionable. However, the pathways to
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  Speaker 5: Australian citizenship chosen by Parliament are circumscribed by arbitrary lines.
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  Speaker 5: The fairness of those lines reflect the legislative policy choices
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  Speaker 5: made by Parliament.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up Why Ngi's older brothers, born in remarkably similar
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  Speaker 1: circumstances got a very different result. Paul Garvey's reporting on
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  Speaker 1: this issue has been truly breathtaking. He's been combing through
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  Speaker 1: dense judgments and talking to everyone about the complex nature
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  Speaker 1: of Australia's immigration decisions. Our subscribers have been with him
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  Speaker 1: every step of the way, and you can join us
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  Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dot au. We'll be back
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  Speaker 1: after this break. Before Enji's birth, Jagleman had brought into
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  Speaker 1: her family two other young people born with medical conditions.
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  Speaker 3: So the first of these boys a boy and Aimed
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  Speaker 3: and Lee. He was born in a hospital in nineteen
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  Speaker 3: ninety eight. He too was abandoned by his biological parents
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  Speaker 3: at birth. He was born with a cleft lip in
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  Speaker 3: a cleft palate, and the Akha ethnic minority parents again
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  Speaker 3: saw those conditions as a sign that the child was cursed.
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  Speaker 3: Miss Jagleman was working in the hospital at a time.
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  Speaker 3: She observed that this baby was just being left and
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  Speaker 3: neglected and the hospital wasn't being fed, and after three
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  Speaker 3: days she went to the director of the hospital and
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  Speaker 3: offered to raise the boy as her own child. So
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  Speaker 3: she's been raising n Lee ever since. Now. Eighteen months later,
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  Speaker 3: she gets a call from a pediatrician at the hospital
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  Speaker 3: telling her that another newborn baby has just been abandoned
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  Speaker 3: by his biological parents again. Because of a cleft lip
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  Speaker 3: and cleft palate, and asking her if she could take
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  Speaker 3: that baby. She gets to the hospital the next day
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  Speaker 3: and is surprised to find that the biological parents are
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  Speaker 3: there in the hospital with this child. Miss Jaygleman says
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  Speaker 3: to them, look, I'm not going to take your baby.
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  Speaker 3: She shows how to feed this baby with a special
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  Speaker 3: cleft palette bottle and promises that when the baby is
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  Speaker 3: five months old, she will organize the free surgery to
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  Speaker 3: correct the cleft palate. She gets home the following day
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  Speaker 3: and the shopkeeper next door gives her a box which
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  Speaker 3: has been left for her.
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  Speaker 5: She opens the box and.
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  Speaker 3: Inside is the baby, the bottle, his birth certificate, and
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  Speaker 3: a note asking her to raise this child. She's subsequently
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  Speaker 3: found out that the parents had confided to the hospital
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  Speaker 3: that if they took the baby home, their relatives would
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  Speaker 3: see the baby as cursed and would have killed the baby.
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  Speaker 3: Both these boys similar stories to that of NG. Those
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  Speaker 3: two boys had their cases go before the Administrative Appeals
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  Speaker 3: Tribunal in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, respectively. Both
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  Speaker 3: made similar arguments to what we saw with Enng last year.
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  Speaker 3: Both received favorite rule outcomes from the tribunal and neither
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  Speaker 3: boy had their outcome challenge via the Immigration Minister of
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  Speaker 3: the time. This is different in that we had a
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  Speaker 3: similar decision similar circumstances. Yet Andrew Drialds, as the Minister,
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  Speaker 3: has used his authority to fight this decision and take
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  Speaker 3: it to the Federal Court, which has sided with him
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  Speaker 3: in his department in this case.
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  Speaker 1: Since Enji's older brothers were granted citizenship, the full Court
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  Speaker 1: of the Federal Court made a new decision clarifying how
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  Speaker 1: the question of time of birth should be interpreted and
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  Speaker 1: that's what led the court to its decision in Enji's case.
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  Speaker 1: The Minister gave The Australian a statement on Wednesday evening
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  Speaker 1: saying simply, Enji's case was about time of birth and
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  Speaker 1: that's what guided the court's decision. Paul Garvey is The
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Australian's West Australian Viewer Chief. Chris Dawson finds out on
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Thursday if his appeal against his murder conviction has been successful.
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  Speaker 1: Come back to the front to find out what happens
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to the teacher's pet case. After yet another twist