Deported Melbourne man begs to return
Thursday Nov 24 00:08 AEST
A man deported from Melbourne last year says he is prepared to die on the steps of Australia's embassy in Serbia unless he can return home.
Robert Jovicic says he was deported to Serbia, a country he has never set foot in, by the federal government in June 2004 despite having lived in Australia for 36 years.
Mr Jovicic arrived as a two year old in Australia in 1968 from France, where he was born, along with his Serbian-born parents and brother and sister.
However the immigration minister of the day, Philip Ruddock, deported him on character grounds because he had been jailed for committing a string of burglaries to support his heroin habit.
For the past two cold winter nights in Belgrade, Mr Jovicic has camped outside the Australian Embassy in a desperate attempt to be returned to Melbourne.
In an emotional interview on ABC TV's Lateline program, he said sleeping outside the embassy was his last resort.
"I've explained to the embassy if I'm considered Australian trash that I will rot on Australian soil," Mr Jovicic said.
"I have indicated this to them and I will. I cannot survive here.
"They've taken everything from me. I've lost everything that was worth anything to me.
"I've lost my princess, which was my wife, my home, ... my hair is falling out.
"If I don't lay out front of the embassy and try and get back home I'll die, I'll die here just on medical grounds alone within a short time."
The Serbian government has refused to recognise Mr Jovicic as a citizen, meaning he is now stateless and has no right to work or obtain welfare benefits in Belgrade.
His sister, Susanna, who is an Australian citizen, has pleaded with the federal government to bring her brother home.
Ms Jovicic said while their father lives in Serbia, he has long been estranged from her and her brother.
"Bring him home because Robert is Australian," she said.
"You can't just throw someone who's been here all their lives and calls this place his home and just dump them somewhere else. He wasn't even born there."
Ms Jovicic was alerted two nights ago by Australia's ambassador to Serbia, John Oliver, about her brother's vigil outside the embassy.
Mr Oliver told her the embassy had arranged for Mr Jovicic to stay for three nights in a Belgrade hotel and for medical a check as a compassionate gesture.
"Robert is rapidly approaching a situation where as far as I can tell he has no visible means of support and his health and welfare are deteriorating," Mr Oliver wrote in an email.
"Most importantly, Robert needs to know the extent to which friends and family in Australia or Serbia can and will support him.
"I know this may sound harsh but I believe it is the reality."
The Immigration Department released a statement to the ABC saying Mr Jovicic had a substantial criminal record and Mr Ruddock had used his discretion to cancel his visa under the Migration Act.
As a result, Mr Jovicic is permanently banned from entering Australia.
The department also argued that Mr Jovicic had cooperated with his deportation by providing travel documents.
It said Mr Jovicic was not considered a stateless person when he was deported because the department expected that he would have the right to stay in Serbia.
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