Embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles was warned by bureaucrats in his own department that a controversial ministerial order he issued risked overturning a quarter of visa cancellations for non-citizen criminals.
In a late-night Senate estimates session Tuesday night, it was revealed that Interior Department officials modeled the implications of Giles’ Directorate 99 changes and found that two of the eight individual cases analyzed were likely to be overturned.
The order, which was issued by Giles in early 2023, requires the immigration minister or a body, including the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to take into account an individual’s community ties when considering revoking the cancellation of a criminal’s visa. convicted.
Under a barrage of questions from the Coalition during question time on Tuesday, Giles refused to apologize and sought to further distance himself from his department, claiming he had not been informed about the AAT’s decisions.
Speaking ahead of the Senate estimates on Tuesday night, Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster said the department had breached protocol by failing to alert Giles about several AAT decisions to overturn cancellations.
“The department failed him, we didn’t follow all the protocols,” Mrs. Foster said.
Foster said he knew of five cases in which the department had not alerted Giles, before being corrected by another official who said the number of cases was approaching 30.
Senate estimates heard on Tuesday night Bureaucrats in his own department warned Andrew Giles that his direction on non-citizens risked allowing criminals to remain in Australia.
Questioned by Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson, who called the revelation “extraordinary”, Ms Foster apologized for the incidents.
“I’m very sorry this happened,” Ms Foster said, adding that she was ultimately responsible and that Internal Affairs had since devoted more resources to addressing the issue.
British-born rapist and masseuse Charles William Davidson had his visa canceled in February, even as he was found guilty of 48 counts of sexual assault, eight counts of rape and three counts of indecent treatment of children under 16. , according to The Australian.
Foster said the case was not among those that had been investigated by the department.
“We are working through all the cases as quickly as we can,” Ms Foster admitted, before another departmental official revealed there was no upper limit on the number of cases that could have been quashed by ministerial order.
Among those whose visa cancellations were overturned were Sudanese national Emmanuel Saki, accused of stabbing a 22-year-old in Queensland just weeks after the AAT revoked his visa cancellation, and Lebanese Abdul Wahab Trad, who was discovered to have strong ties to Australia despite raping a 13-year-old girl in 2020.
The Coalition put five examples to Mr Giles during question time, asking him if he would apologize for his “catastrophic mistake and change direction 99”.
During cross-examination, Mr Giles was at pains to argue that the decisions to revoke the visa were made by an “independent tribunal” of the AAT.
‘I remind home that management places serious emphasis on family violence. These must be considered in all matters by the court,” she said.
“I have canceled the individual’s visa.”
He said he had tasked his department with examining AAT cases “as a priority.”
The Coalition also raised questions about an Afghan national, known as ZJFQ, who had his visa canceled after raping a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old disabled boy, but was allowed to remain in Australia.
“I say again that Directorate 99 did not and does not diminish the importance given to considerations such as the expectations of the Australian community and the protection of the community from crime,” Mr Giles said.