13 February 2024 , 11:18
682
0
A British charity worker who has lived in Australia for 40 years faces being deported after being accused of using fake aliases - which she claims is untrue.
Mary Ellis, 74, re-located from London with her partner Martin Ellis in 1981 to begin their new life together in Northern Rivers, New South Wales. She says Martin, who has since passed away, promised her that he had got them both permanent visas. However, officials believe Mary has spent decades living abroad illegally, with the Department of Home Affairs claiming that she has entered the country three times using another name and claimed that the man she first landed with used a completely different name.
The pensioner, who was dubbed NSW Volunteer of the Year in 2023, says she hasn't even left the country to go on vacation since 1981. However, officials disputed the claim and said she was outside of Australia between February 1983 and November 1986. Mary, who is in possession of an Australian driver's licence, medicare card and pension card, insists that Home Affairs have got her situation "wrong".
The grandmother has denied the Home Affairs claims (ACA/9 News)Mary, who has children in Australia who have citizenships, explained that she doesn't understand why Home Affairs believes she has used aliases, and that documents prove she was in Australia on the department's given dates. Among those documents is a job reference from a restaurant in Tasmania stating she worked there from as a waitress and cashier from 1983 to 1986 and a successful Medicare enrolment letter signed by Neal Blewett, NSW's then Minister of Health. But officials have claimed her alleged three-year departure means she does not meet the requirements, as Australia's Migration Act 1958 allows non-citizens to become "absorbed persons" only if they have stayed in the country since April 2, 1984, and never left..
The department has said she was not in the country on that date and, therefore, is "not considered an absorbed person". The letter stated: "As you were not in Australia on 02/04/1984, you are not considered an absorbed person and do not hold an Absorbed Persons Visa." The letter added that officials believe her former partner was named Trevor Warren, not Martin Ellis. Speaking to the Australian show A Current Affair this week, Ms Ellis said: "This is my home, I love Australia." Migration agent Stanley Schneider said: "She knows not a soul over there [in England], not a soul. She's always paid her taxes, she hasn't even had a speeding ticket, she's never infringed anything, she's never offended anyone."
Missing radioactive capsule found after huge search - and it's the size of a pea