KEY POINTS:
A Kiwi branded a "one-woman crime wave" is vowing to do everything possible to avoid being deported to her country of birth.
Patricia Carol Toia, a New Zealand citizen with a 30-page criminal record, will be deported if she loses her appeal against Australian authorities.
The administrative appeals tribunal on Thursday upheld a 2004 decision to have Toia returned to her country of origin after she failed a character test to stay.
Tribunal deputy president Julian Block, described Toia as a "one-woman crime wave" and a "threat to the Australian community".
The 29-year-old, who has spent the past four months in Sydney's Villawood immigration detention centre, has been imprisoned more than 30 times for offences including robbery, assaults, intimidation, driving while disqualified and drug trafficking.
She is banned from driving in Australia until 2053 - when she'll be 75.
But last night she told the Herald on Sunday she was determined to stay in the country she called home.
"All I know is that I've got to fight as much as I can because this is the only country I know," Toia said.
"The majority of those jail terms are offences for driving a car without a licence while disqualified.
"Every time I've gone to jail it's been for six months or four months. I'm a product of Australia."
Toia left New Zealand with her parents aged 1.
She said she lived rough on the streets from age 11 after running away from years of sexual abuse.
"I'm disgusted at the way my life is. I'm embarrassed about my past. It's not like I like doing the wrong thing."
Toia, who miscarried her first child six months ago, said her family never told her she needed citizenship.
She's desperate to start a family with 27-year-old fiance Hamish McLelland but an uncertain future may put all that on hold.
"I was in a crowd Hamish didn't like and he pulled me out of it. For the first time I've got something excellent in my life. All I want to do is have kids and work hard. It's not like I've taken somebody's life," she said.
"If they split us up and take me to New Zealand I'll be there on my own. Where am I supposed to go? Who am I supposed to go to? That's the last thing I need to think of. It's bad enough I had it here when I first went onto the street. I don't want to go through that again."
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs minister Winston Peters said Toia should be allowed to stay in Australia because only a technicality prevents her from being an Australian citizen.
"The reason we are disappointed is because all her family are living in Australia and are her support network to allow her to positively move out of a life of crime."
