Key ministers in the Albanese government have come under intense scrutiny over a visa debacle that has allowed serious offenders to remain on Australian soil.
Questions were raised around the issue on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program on May 29, after it was revealed that Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles had been warned by members of his own cabinet about the risks involved with an order known as Direction 99.
The controversial ruling by Mr. Giles in January last year gave the Australian Appeals Tribunal (AAT) the directive to prioritise convicted criminals’ ties to Australia when determining whether to allow successful appeals of visa cancellations.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated during Parliament Question Time on May 29 that he will revise the Direction 99 ruling that has been responsible for violent criminals being allowed to remain in Australia.
The AAT will now be replaced with the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) which Mr. Albanese said would allow tribunal members to make “better decisions.”
Direction 99 was introduced after the New Zealand government voiced concerns about too many New Zealanders being returned who were said to be more aligned with Australia than their country of origin.
But confusion set in after the severe offending of several released criminals was revealed to include a man who raped his step-child while her mother gave birth, a serial rapist who attacked 25 women and a child, and a child predator who filmed his crimes.
Another migrant, a Sudanese man accused of criminal behaviour, had been allowed to stay in Australia after arguing that he identified as an Indigenous Australian.
Mr. Giles used his ministerial powers to overrule the reinstatement of a visa of different Sudanese man convicted of a murder in Brisbane. The man will now have to leave Australia.
Mr. Giles has ordered an urgent review of a number of other reinstated visas.
Speaking on Sunrise, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil levelled blame at the AAT, saying Mr. Giles was “taking action as a good minister would do” in demanding answers from the department.
“It does appear that the decisions made by this independent tribunal are not meeting community expectations,” she said.
But Queensland senator Matt Canavan has questioned how the situation could have happened at all.
“There’s only two options here, either the government had done that due diligence and decided to release these hardened criminals anyway, or they just hadn’t done the work and had no idea who they were releasing onto our streets,” he said.
Mr. Canavan said it wasn’t enough for the government to play a blame game with the AAT when they themselves gave the order that resulted in the controversial decision to release known offenders into the community.
“How much incompetence can you preside over before there are consequences?” he said.
“Because there doesn’t seem to be consequences for the Albanese ministry.”
Labor frontbencher Murray Watt also told a parliamentary hearing that advice to the government from the tribunal had been that the direction would be unlikely to result in serious offenders having their visa cancellations overturned, according to AAP.
He said decisions made by the AAT were not in line with the government’s intentions.
The Prime Minister’s office was contacted for comment.
