Allysha’s Story: A Young Australian Facing an Unthinkable Future
Our daughter, Allysha, has called Australia home since she was a baby. She has lived here permanently since 2010, grown up in our community, and is now completing Year 12 — preparing for the future every Australian child deserves to imagine.

Yet today, at 17, she faces the threat of deportation to a country she does not know. This is not a future any child should be asked to accept.

 A Legal Adoption Undertaken in Good Faith
In 2008, while living abroad as long term expatriates in Papua New Guinea, we adopted Allysha as an infant. At the time, the rules allowed Australians living overseas to adopt privately, and we believed — correctly based on the information available — that we were eligible to do so.

We raised Allysha from her earliest days. She has known no other parents, no other home, and no other life.

 A Complex System That No Family Could Have Navigated Perfect
The laws governing international adoption left us in an impossible position. We were terrified that our daughter — whom we had cared for since infancy — could be taken from us because of technicalities we barely understood. In that environment, we made choices that were not perfect, but they were made for one reason only: to keep our child safe. Good people sometimes make flawed decisions when the system gives them no humane alternative.

When the Australian government later advised that the private adoption was not recognised, we followed every instruction given to us. We returned to the Philippines, obtained full consent from the biological parents, and completed a formal adoption through the Philippine courts.

We did everything asked of us.
Yet Allysha was still left without a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship.

 A Young Woman With No Country to Call Home — Except Australia
Despite living her entire life here, despite being legally adopted, and despite doing everything the government required, the only visa offered to Allysha in 2015 was a temporary student visa.

This left her with no security, no stability, and no future in the country she calls home.

Unless the Minister for Immigration intervenes, Allysha will be deported at the end of this school year to the Philippines — a country where she has:

• no immediate family
• no support network
• no lived experience
• no connection beyond the paperwork of her birth

Removing her from Australia would cause profound and lasting harm.

 A Family Committed to Australia
Our family has deep roots in this country.
We operate businesses that employ more than 200 staff across 3 countries including Australia.
We contribute to our community, our economy, and our region.
Marijun is a recipient of the 2025 Logohu Award for services to business and community in PNG.

But none of that matters compared to one simple truth:

Our daughter belongs here.

 A Young Australian Who Embodies Australian Values
Allysha is everything we hope young Australians will be:

• hardworking
• compassionate
• community‑minded
• dedicated to her education
• deeply connected to her school and friends

She has volunteered at local events, excelled academically, and built her entire identity around the only country she has ever known.

To deport her now would not only shatter her future — it would contradict the values of fairness, decency, and family that Australia proudly upholds.

 The Human Cost of Bureaucracy
Imagine being 17 and told that the country you grew up in, the country you love, the country you call home — does not want you.

Imagine being sent to a place where you have no family, no support, and no future.

This is the reality Allysha faces unless the Minister acts.

 Australia’s Obligations to Children
Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires that:

• the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration
• children have the right to grow up with stability, safety, and family

Deporting a legally adopted young woman who has lived here since infancy is inconsistent with those principles.

 A Call for Compassion and Justice
We are asking the Australian government to recognise Allysha’s right to remain in the only home she has ever known.

We are asking for compassion.
We are asking for fairness.
We are asking for a future for our daughter.

Please sign this petition.
Every signature shows the Minister that Australians believe in protecting children, supporting families, and doing what is right.

 A Family Under Strain — But a Father Who Will Not Give Up
This situation has placed enormous emotional strain on our family. But I cannot — and will not — stop fighting for my daughter.

No parent should ever have to stand by while their child’s future is taken from them. I refuse to be that parent.