Royal Abbott, Melbourne – Five Melbourne mayors have joined the Victorian government in appealing to Canberra to halt plans to forcibly deport 1,400 East Timorese who have been denied permanent residency.

Many of the East Timorese have lived legally in Australia for 10 years and have established roots they are unwilling to sever to return to their once-troubled homeland.

Their bridging visas have expired and without the intervention of federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock they will be compelled to return to East Timor.

City of Yarra mayor, Councillor Sue Corby, said the East Timorese have built lives in Australia. "Many of the children who came here in their early teens have gone on to become symbols of inspiration to all Australians," she said.

Today she joined with the mayors of Moonee Valley, Brimbank, Maribyrnong and Dandenong in asking the state and federal governments to cancel the deportation orders and support the East Timorese community.

Cr Corby said the City of Yarra's Australian of the Year, former Dili student Fivo Freitas, was a typical case. Mr Freitas, 28, a part-time carpenter and full-time community volunteer, received the award for his contribution to the East Timorese and wider Richmond community.

A pro-independence activist in Dili, Mr Freitas escaped to the safety of Australia in 1999 after hearing that the Indonesian security forces were hunting for him.

"I had to escape using a tourist visa, then I got a bridging visa but that doesn't say how long you can stay and now the government says I must go," he said today.

"I like living in Melbourne and I want to integrate into Australia. There is little for me back in East Timor. "

His pessimism about the state of his homeland was echoed by East Timor Consul General Abel Guterres.

"We'd like to welcome them home, but what can we give them?" Mr Guterres said today. "East Timor is in no position to have extra mouths to feed."

He said the issue presented the Australian government with a moral challenge which he hoped would not affect the goodwill between the two nations.

"We hope there is an open heart here despite the difficult circumstances the Australian government finds itself in," he added.

Richmond MP Richard Wynne said Premier Steve Bracks wanted Mr Ruddock to intervene to allow the East Timorese to stay in Victoria.

A delegation of municipal and community leaders plan to travel to Canberra tomorrow to ask the immigration minister to use his discretion to allow the East Timorese to stay.

Mr Ruddock was being sought for comment. A spokesman for Mr Ruddock later said there were no immediate plans to deport the 1,400 East Timorese, and their applications to stay in Australia were yet to be processed.

The spokesman said it was likely that most of them were not refugees and therefore ineligible to stay in the country. "But until we look at their applications, we won't know," he said.