A group of people held as children in Australia and accused of human trafficking will receive more than $27 million in compensation.
The Federal Court has signed a settlement between the Commonwealth and a group led by Indonesian man Ali Yasmin, who will himself receive $40,000 of the agreed amount.
Mr Yasmin led the claim on behalf of himself and other Indonesian children who alleged they arrived in Australia unaccompanied by adults for six years between 2007 and 2013.
He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2010 to be served in a maximum security prison in Western Australia, despite being 13 years old at the time.
In 2012 he was released and deported.
The Federal Court has signed a settlement between the Commonwealth and a group led by Indonesian man Ali Yasmin, who will himself receive $40,000 of the agreed amount.
In their lawsuit, Mr. Yasmin and the group members said they were born and raised in remote coastal fishing communities in poverty, with low levels of education and little or no English language skills.
It was alleged that they boarded smuggling boats as children, unaccompanied by legal guardians, and were paid to work as crew members.
When the boats were intercepted, they were transferred to Christmas Island for immigration processing.
The group was previously reported to include more than 100 people, but membership registrations have been extended until December 2024.
The group claimed they were being investigated for alleged human trafficking offences, and were being held by the then Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Australian Federal Police.
Mr Yasmin said he and other group members told the Ministry of Immigration and Citizenship that they were under 18, but in both cases they were told their appearance did not reflect being underage.
He claimed that he and other group members were wrongly assessed as adults by the Commonwealth based on unreliable wrist X-rays.
He claimed the Commonwealth knew that wrist X-rays were not a reliable way to determine a person's age. The method has since been discredited.
Each member of the group was subsequently charged, charged, prosecuted, convicted and/or incarcerated in adult prisons for these crimes, it was alleged.
The settlement, signed Friday by Judge Christopher Horan, was approved by the Commonwealth without any admission of wrongdoing or liability.
The settlement, signed Friday by Judge Christopher Horan, was approved by the Commonwealth without any admission of wrongdoing or liability.
The Commonwealth specifically denied the unlawful detention, claiming it was authorized and required by the Migration Act.
She also denied that she owed the duties of care imposed by the group or that she had breached these duties.
The settlement agreement as a whole was deemed by Judge Horan to be fair and reasonable, and in the best interests of the class members as a whole.
Under the initially proposed settlement, Mr Yasmin would have received $100,000, but Judge Horan reduced that amount to $40,000, finding that the original amount was not fair or in the best interests of the class members as a whole.
Another $2.5 million was approved to cover legal costs.