Petition Update: Clarification, Accountability & Renewed Focus

To everyone who has stood with me thank you. In just over 32 hours, more than 42,500 people have signed this petition calling for the deportation of Thomas Sewell. That level of support speaks volumes about how deeply Australians care about justice, safety, and standing up to hate.
I want to take a moment to clarify and apologise for an error in the original petition description.

When I launched this campaign, I stated that Sewell could be deported under existing law due to his dual citizenship and violent conduct. After further research, I’ve learned that while Sewell was born in New Zealand and New Zealand law at the time automatically granted citizenship to anyone born on NZ soil there is no public record confirming or denying whether he still holds that citizenship today.

I’ve now made the petition more legally sound and given it an actual achievable goal. This is still about the deportation of Sewell; but first we need to fix the system that protects violent extremists while failing vulnerable communities, by push the federal parliament to reform the Australian Citizens Act.

Here’s what we now understand:
•     Sewell would have been granted NZ citizenship at birth unless his parents were foreign diplomats (and there’s no evidence they were).
•     He became an Australian citizen, likely before 2012, as required for his enlistment in the Australian Army.
•     There’s no record of him renouncing NZ citizenship, which is a formal legal process.
•     So while we can’t confirm dual citizenship with absolute certainty, the legal context strongly supports the likelihood that he holds both.

I take full responsibility for the earlier oversimplification. I acted in good faith, based on the best information available, but I now recognise that the legal framework is more complex than I had presented. I sincerely apologise to anyone who felt misled or disappointed. That was never my intention.

But this is not a setback it’s a pivot. A moment to strengthen our case, sharpen our focus, and push for real change.

This petition now calls for two things:
1.     The revocation of Thomas Sewell’s Australian citizenship through a court-authorised process, based on his violent extremist conduct and likely dual nationality.
2.     Urgent reform of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, so that individuals convicted of serious hate-fueled crimes can have their citizenship revoked and be subject to deportation with full judicial oversight and constitutional safeguards.

We are not backing down. We are evolving. And we are demanding a legal system that protects communities, not extremists.

Thank you for standing with me. Let’s keep going.

Constitutional Reformist