In 2020, as COVID pandemic restrictions were imposed, Lambourne was in his native country, Australia, and his return to Kiribati was delayed.

Kiribati has notified an Australian-born judge removed from High Court by parliament this week that he will be deported after 21 days, in a case a U.N. special rapporteur said was a major setback for justice in the Pacific Islands nation.

An Australian judge is a step closer to being deported from Kiribati after the country's parliament voted in favour of his removal from the High Court.

Kiribati's parliament has voted to remove Australian-born High Court Judge David Lambourne, who said on Friday the move was politically motivated and an attack on the independence of the Pacific Island nation's judiciary.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite was responding to a recommendation from a Kiribati tribunal that Kiribati High Court judge David Lambourne be removed.