- Dustin Martin’s uncle Dean is about to be deported to New Zealand
- He is a former Rebels bikie boss and once dated Lidia Thorpe
- READ MORE: Senator with a burning reputation leaves the Greens
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has said the government has made a mistake with the impending deportation of former motorcycle club boss Dean Martin, with whom she had a brief relationship.
Senator Thorpe claimed that Martin, who was arrested on Monday and will be deported to New Zealand after his visa was revoked on character grounds, cannot be deported because he is an Indigenous person.
Mr Martin is a union representative for the beleaguered CFMEU and is a former national president of the Rebels bikie gang. He is also the uncle of Richmond AFL legend Dustin Martin.
Martin is being held in an Australian Border Force immigration detention centre after Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil personally revoked his visa.
Senator Thorpe said she had not spoken to Martin but that she believed “the government made a mistake in this decision”.
“Mr Martin has evidence, support and recognition that he is an Aboriginal person from the elders and community in Lutruwita Tasmania,” she said.
‘We have already seen the High Court rule in 2020 that the Commonwealth has no constitutional power to deport First Peoples under the Migration Act.
“The 2020 ruling is a reflection of the Mabo ruling, which recognised that the First Peoples’ connection to this land has never been broken.”
Lidia Thorpe was in a relationship with Dean Martin, the ex-president of the Rebels Victoria branch, after they met through the ‘Blak activism’ group. Martin’s visa was revoked by Home Affairs this week
Martin stepped down as president of the Rebels Victoria chapter in 2018 after his brother, Dustin Martin’s father Shane, was deported to New Zealand over his links to motorsport.
Senator Thorpe said First Nations people could not be classified as “aliens” and deported as this would be inconsistent with their connection to the land which is “recognised by customary law”.
“My question is, why does the government now think they can break the law and deport the original inhabitants?”
The Interior Ministry said it could not comment on individual cases.
Martin’s brother Shane – also a former senior member of the Rebels – was deported to New Zealand in 2018.
Three years later, Shane died in Auckland.
Senator Thorpe previously said she had a “brief relationship” with Martin in 2021, when she was part of a joint parliamentary law enforcement select committee that received confidential briefings on organised crime and motorcycle gangs.
This led to her resigning from her leadership position within the Greens due to the unknown relationship.
Senator Thorpe (pictured in May this year) said the government had ‘made a mistake’ by revoking Martin’s visa because he is an Indigenous person
Martin is the uncle of Richmond Tigers star Dustin Martin (pictured on the field against the Brisbane Lions)
Senator Thorpe, who later left the Greens and became an independent, admitted in a statement at the time that she had “made mistakes”.
“I will now reflect on this and focus on my important portfolio work, particularly advocating for the interests of First Nations,” she said.
Martin has lived in the country for thirty years and was associated with the motorcycle gang Rebels for 25 years, until 2018.
He has no criminal record, but is said to be a suspect in the police investigation into the organization.
Since leaving the rebels, he has been working as a CFMEU delegate at the indigenous employment agency A2B.
The state governments of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland have committed, with federal government support, to placing CFMEU branches in their regions under external administration in an effort to clean up the union.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Senator Thorpe’s office for further comment.