Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster has admitted her department failed to give advice to immigration minister Andrew Giles about tribunal decisions allowing non-citizens to remain in Australia despite committing serious offences.
Mr. Giles has come under intense pressure from the opposition over a ministerial direction that saw a foreign national’s ties to Australia taken into account during tribunal decisions on whether that person’s visa should be cancelled.
It comes after a New Zealand man, known as CHCY, was allowed to keep his visa by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal despite being found guilty of raping his stepdaughter.
“The department did fail him [Minister Giles], we did not meet our very clear protocol and in particular we have not put advice before him in any way on the ... cases that have been the subject [of media reporting],” she told a senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.
“We’re not saying that none of these cases would have gone to the minister. We’re saying they have not yet gone to him ... that’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of.”
Ministerial direction 99 was created in January 2023 following concerns from the New Zealand government that too many people were being deported despite having closer ties to Australia than they did to New Zealand.
Under the direction, factors needed to be taken into consideration for visa cases include the protection of the community, whether conduct constituted family violence, the ties of the person to Australia and the best interests of children.
Home Affairs officials also revealed that 3,309 visitor visas were granted to Israelis and 2,341 to Palestinians in the wake of the latest war in Gaza between Oct. 7 and March 31.
Of the Palestinians, 571 have been able to safely arrive in Australia, the committee heard.
Department officials said the majority had been fleeing the violence from Gaza, in response to questions from Green senator David Shoebridge.
The total number of tourist visas lodged by Palestinians was 9,600 in the same period, with 1,831 refusals.
They admitted the refusal rate of tourist visas for Palestinians was higher than average.
Mr. Shoebridge criticised the government for providing about $440,000 in financial assistance since April to the 571 Palestinians, saying about $800 per person fleeing a war zone was paltry.
Senator Shoebridge further questioned the department on the soon-to-be-abolished Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) set up under the Abbott Coalition government.
“What are the plans for 7,500 people who have had their asylum claims rejected by the fast-track system that this government now acknowledges is unfair and is abolishing?” he asked.
“I believe the decisions of the IAA will stand,” Ms. Foster said, adding that ministerial interventions would be needed to overturn any decisions.
But the senator pushed back, saying it could not practically work.
“How on earth could any one individual, and most especially with all the other responsibilities of a minister ... possibly engage with thousands and thousands of such applications?”
