Dustin Martin’s bikie uncle avoids deportation after proving Indigenous heritage

A move to deport Dustin Martin’s uncle has been abandoned after the former Rebels bikie president was able to prove his Indigenous heritage.

Dean Martin, a former CFMEU delegate who was once in a relationship with ex-Greens senator Lidia Thorpe, was set to be deported to New Zealand after his visa was cancelled on character grounds.

Former Rebels bikie club president Dean Martin will not be deported following the federal government’s backtrack.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Martin had been held at an immigration detention centre since his arrest last month and was set to appear before the Supreme Court for a two-day trial.

However, the trial was abandoned after Martin provided evidence of his Indigenous descent.

A spokesperson for federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed that Martin had been released back into the community.

“The Love/Thoms High Court ruling ... determined that if a detainee reached certain thresholds, they could not be deported,” the spokesperson said.

The High Court ruling stipulates that Aboriginal Australians “are not aliens for the purpose of the Constitution and cannot be deported”.

“Last week, the government received advice that those thresholds had been met in this case and Mr Martin was to be released. He was put on a special purpose visa that day,” the spokesperson said.

“We’ve handled this in the same way the previous government handled detainees who met the same threshold.”

Martin was one of more than 20 members of the CFMEU with bikie links whom the union stood aside in Victoria last month following a joint investigation into the construction union by this masthead, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes.

He has lived in Australia for three decades and was operating as a CFMEU delegate at Indigenous labour hire firm A2B.

He stepped down as Rebels president in 2018 after his brother, Shane Martin – the father of AFL star Dustin – was deported to New Zealand.

Shane died in 2021 after several failed bids to return to Australia.

Dean Martin briefly dated Lidia Thorpe when she was a member of the joint parliamentary law enforcement committee in 2021.

Dustin Martin with his father, Shane Martin.

The parliamentary committee had received confidential briefings in the past about bikie gangs and organised crime, prompting concerns about a potential conflict of interest. The committee found that while Thorpe should have disclosed the relationship, she did not receive any relevant sensitive information and therefore should not be held in contempt.

This masthead does not suggest Thorpe shared any confidential information with any person not authorised to receive it.

When details of the relationship emerged in October 2022, it triggered Thorpe’s resignation as Greens deputy Senate leader. She later quit the party entirely after a long-running dispute over its position on the Voice to parliament referendum.

Thorpe has previously challenged the government’s decision to deport Martin saying her ex-partner had Indigenous heritage.

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