Australians are rightly proud that the White Australia policy, once described as our Magna Carta, withered and finally died 50 years ago.
But the constitutional power to deport “aliens” that gave the exclusionary policy its real clout endures.
The parliament, as it has done repeatedly since 1901, is again tinkering with laws to better “ring fence” the nation. This month yet another Australian government will turn itself in knots as it seeks to convince the high court that it can detain unverified refugees who fail to cooperate with their .involuntary removal.