Adelaide family deported from Vanuatu in nightmare middle-of-night raid
The Bruegger family were running a successful resort on the Pacific island of Vanuatu when their lives were turned upside down by midnight raids and an unlawful deportation.
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An Adelaide family unlawfully deported from Vanuatu has been left millions of dollars out of pocket and traumatised by a “Gestapo-style” middle-of-the-night police raid on its home in the South Pacific nation.
The Bruegger family, who own the Aquana Beach Resort at Port Vila, were illegally deported from Vanuatu in August last year after they were alleged to have breached their visa conditions and lived illegally in the country.
At about 2am on August 27, Vanuatu Police Force and Vanuatu Immigration Services officers raided the resort, which the Bruegger family built and opened 13 years ago, and arrested Marcel and Fabienne Bruegger and their three children, aged nine, 11 and 13.
In separate raids executed simultaneously, Mr Bruegger’s parents Hugo and Sandra Bruegger and the family’s business partner Birgit Mettel were also arrested.
Despite repeatedly asking what was happening, the Bruegger family was forced from their home and bundled into a government car without an explanation about their arrest.
“It was like an orchestrated Gestapo-style raid,” Mr Bruegger said.
“Because they weren’t answering our questions, we had no idea what was going on.
“Their goal was to get us out of that room and get us in the car ASAP. They had it all planned.”
The family were forced to hand over their mobile phones and passports and leave without any personal items or luggage.
“We were ushered out of there without anything,” Mr Bruegger said. “We had no money, no clothes, nothing … not even a toothbrush.”
During the raid, Ms Bruegger and her children were forced to dress in front of police officers.
“I had to get dressed and I wasn’t allowed to close the door so I was completely naked at one stage,” Ms Bruegger said.
“I turned around and there was an officer standing at our door. Our kids had to get dressed without the door being closed.
“I was not allowed to help any of the kids. They were just shouted at and thrown outside.”
Their 13-year-old daughter was forced to leave the resort without a bra and wearing only a windcheater on her top half.
The Brueggers were then forced into a government vehicle and driven around Port Vila for more than two hours before being taken to the airport.
“There was a chain of about six or seven cars and we were literally driving at walking pace,” Mr Bruegger said.
Mr Bruegger said he feared a “hit” had been organised on his family.
“We were wondering what the hell was going on with no one telling us anything so we feared the worst unfortunately,” he said.
“Is this illegal what they’re doing?
“What are they trying to do? Are they trying to intimidate us?
“Has someone organised a hit on us?”
After several hours, the family was taken through Port Vila Airport’s back entrance, put on a flight to Sydney, handed their phones and told not to make any phone calls until they arrived in Australia.
Ms Bruegger was told she would be flown to Switzerland, where she is a citizen, because immigration officials were unable to locate an Australian visa for her before she was allowed to remain on the flight with her family, who arrived in Sydney that morning with only a couple hundred dollars on them.
The deportation came after the Brueggers were classed as “prohibited immigrants” despite Mr Bruegger trying for more than two years to have his family’s visas renewed.
On several occasions, Mr Bruegger was told documentation he had provided for the renewals had been lost.
As recently as two days before police raided their home, the Brueggers were told their visas were not yet ready for collection.
Their arrest was the first time the Brueggers or Ms Mettel were aware of their prohibited immigrant status.
Email correspondence lodged with the Vanuatu Supreme Court shows Mr Bruegger had queried his family’s visa status as early as September 2021.
In November, an urgent judicial review in the Supreme Court found the Brueggers’ deportation was unlawful and ordered the government’s decision to class them as prohibited immigrants be quashed.
Justice Viran Molisa Trief said Mr Bruegger was “still following up” the visa applications in August and “only days before their deportation, had understood that the visas were ready for collection”.
Justice Trief said the government’s conduct was “nothing short of egregious and is to be condemned in the strongest terms” and that the Brueggers’ three children had been “deprived of their liberty when they were taken into custody”.
The court ordered the Brueggers’ and Ms Mettel’s visas be reissued within seven days, that the government pay for their flights to return to Vanuatu, their legal costs be paid, that the Bruegger family’s names be removed from a social media post on the Vanuatu Ministry of Internal Affairs’ account the day after their deportation and that a public apology be issued.
The government did not challenge the Brueggers’ evidence in court.
Following the deportation, local MP and former minister Norris Jack took control of their resort, which neighbours his property.
Mr Jack purchased part of the resort, which the Brueggers had decided to sell while they were unable to run their business, less than three weeks after their deportation.
They had given the bank permission to sell a section of the property which 13 bungalows were located on but were not advised until after settlement that Mr Jack was the purchaser.
Mr Jack, who is Vanuatu’s former Lands and Health Minister and has also held several other portfolios, has denied any involvement in the deportation.
In a public statement posted the day after the Bruegger’s deportation, the Vanuatu Ministry of Internal Affairs said their arrest, which the government approved 10 days earlier, had been planned for “some month (sic)” and executed on August 27 because only one guest was staying at the family’s resort at the time of the raid.
Documents filed in Vanuatu Supreme Court allege that within hours of the Brueggers’ deportation, Mr Jack arrived at the resort with a set of keys and told staff he was running the business and that the then-Immigration Director had given him the keys.
“Norris was asking me to hand over all keys to the resort as Marcel and the rest of the family would not be coming back to Vanuatu,” resort manager Sila Tom said in a sworn statement filed to the Supreme Court.
Mr Jack shortly after hired security guards to patrol the resort entrance and banned staff from entering.
“I have felt threatened and scared by Norris Jack and his security people,” Ms Tom said.
“Norris Jack and his security people have threatened and intimidated me … and I have felt very unsafe.”
On September 15, the Supreme Court ordered that Mr Jack not enter the Brueggers’ section of the resort and that he not come within 50m of, or approach, any of the family’s staff, invitees, lawyers, advisers, security staff, contractors, or relatives.
The court also ordered Mr Jack return the resort keys and vehicles he had taken to resort staff.
In a second statement, Ms Tom said Mr Jack had refused to comply with the order even after being served court documents.
In a subsequent ruling, the court ordered Mr Jack not stop resort staff from entering the property and return items he had taken from the resort including boats, furniture, electrical equipment, gas bottles and other items that were not part of the 13 bungalows he had purchased.
The resort’s main building, restaurant, pool, kids club and other accommodation buildings are located on the Brueggers’ 12ha section of the resort.
As of Saturday, Mr Jack’s security personnel remained blocking the entrance to the resort.
Mr Bruegger, who valued the resort and its assets at about $6m, said his family had been left millions of dollars out of pocket, with many of the resort’s assets looted since its closure.
Mr Jack was contacted for comment through his lawyer but no response was received by deadline.
In December, he told a local media outlet he was not involved in the Brueggers’ deportation.
Mr Bruegger said his family had not received any support from the federal government since arriving in Australia despite their lawyer writing to the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu.
In November, the family’s lawyer requested the High Commissioner contact the Brueggers and meet with the Vanuatu government.
The lawyer’s correspondence has not been responded to since December 18 last year.
The Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Department did not answer specific questions about the Bruegger family’s deportation or whether or not it was aware of the operation before the family’s arrest.
“Australians in need of emergency consular assistance overseas should contact the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre,” a spokeswoman said.
Vanuatu Internal Affairs Minister Johnny Koanopo said he had been in discussions with the Bruegger family’s lawyer.
“I’m determined to try and sort the issue out,” Mr Koanopo, whose party was not in power at the time of the family’s deportation, said.
Mr Koanopo said the government would “abide by the decision of the court” which was handed down two months ago.
As of Saturday, none of the orders had been followed.
Mr Bruegger said his family’s deportation had “humiliated” them.
“After our deportation, everyone in Vanuatu thought we were absolute criminals,” he said.
Mr Bruegger said he wanted to return to Vanuatu but feared government repercussions after being treated “like criminals”.
“We’re not going to risk being thrown in jail if we go back there,” he said. “We didn’t want this to happen. It was a horrible experience.”
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