Embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles will amend the directive he gave that has allowed courts to go easy on foreign-born offenders facing deportation.
Following widespread backlash and condemnation, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his right-hand man confirmed on Wednesday that Directorate 99 will be redeveloped.
Labor placed the blame squarely on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for misinterpreting the order made by Giles in January 2023, resulting in up to 60 foreign-born offenders receiving leniency.
‘The Albanian government has always said that visa decisions should be guided by two clear principles. Firstly, the protection of the Australian community. Secondly, common sense,” said Mr Giles.
“Several recent decisions by the AAT have not shown common sense.”
Embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles will amend the directive he gave that has allowed courts to go easy on foreign-born criminals facing deportation.
Giles revealed during question time that, in response to the crisis, Labor is “introducing new and revised ministerial direction to ensure clear principles”.
He said the revised direction will ensure that “all members of the (review tribunal) adopt a common sense approach to visa decisions, in line with the intention of ministerial direction 99”.
He also confirmed that he and his department are in the process of “reviewing recent AAT decisions”.
Senator Murray Watt, who represented Mr Giles at Senate Estimates on Tuesday, argued that the AAT’s decisions were “not in line with government policy”.
“And frankly, I don’t think these AAT decisions are in line with community expectations either,” Watt said.
But the Coalition has responded to the government’s attempts to distance itself from the crisis, pointing out that AAT decisions have been made with Directorate 99 directly in mind.
Anthony Albanese backed his embattled minister on Wednesday
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed his embattled minister on Wednesday as he endured a second day of intense criticism of Directorate 99.
Giles told the AAT in January 2023 to take into account a person’s family dynamics and their connection to Australia when assessing visa cancellations on character grounds.
As a result, dozens of criminals who had their visas canceled due to serious crimes have been allowed to remain in Australia, while under the old management they would have been deported.
Giles said if a foreign-born citizen came to Australia at a young age or has family ties here, the court should consider the impacts of deporting them.
But now he says those considerations should never have taken precedence over community safety, and that the court has not acted correctly in some of the decisions that have been made with that direction in mind.
Compounding the problem, it was revealed during Senate Estimates that his department had not informed him of several of the court’s decisions to reverse visa cancellations.
Now, he and his department are scrambling to come up with a list of priorities.
Giles has since revealed that several of these visas have again been cancelled.