The opposition has strengthened calls for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to resign as details emerge about a rapist who was allowed to stay in Australia under Direction 99.
The Australian on Wednesday reported that a man who attacked 25 women and a child was able to keep his visa as a result of the ministerial direction.
Mr Giles issued Direction 99 in January 2023, instructing the Australian Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to make “ties to Australia” a primary consideration during visa determinations.
Dozens of offenders have since been able to use the key consideration to successfully appeal their visa cancellations.
The freshly uncovered case involves man in his 70s who was born in Scotland, but has lived in Australia since the age of five after he first arrived to the country in the 1950s.
He has been convicted of a total of 48 counts of sexual assault, eight counts of rape and three counts of indecent treatment of children under 16, according to the AAT.
The Tribunal revoked the cancellation of his visa on February 14 this year, giving consideration to the man’s family and social ties to Australia.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Wednesday, deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said the Immigration Minister should be sacked.
“I’m just stunned… a remorseless, serial rapist who attacked 25 women and a child has kept his visa because of a direction by this Minister,” Ms Ley told Peter Stefanovic.
“Yesterday we saw in Question Time the coalition asked question after question and got the most pathetic responses from this Immigration Minister.
“He does need to be sacked. He does need to go.
“Every minute he stays in the job is evidence of weak leadership from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“I’m bewildered as to why he is still there making these awful, awful mistakes.”
Asked who should cop the blame for the debacle, opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson claimed it came down to the Immigration Minister.
“If it was just one rogue tribunal member or one decision, maybe you could blame the AAT,” he told ABC News.
“But now we have dozens, in fact, more than 30 cases that the media has uncovered of serious violent criminals who have been allowed to stay in our country.
“And what those decisions have in common is they all point to this ministerial direction and the new primary consideration that Andrew Giles inserted into that direction, that considerable weight should be given to a person’s ties to Australia regardless of their level of offending if they have been here for a long time.”
He made similar remarks to the deputy opposition leader calling on Mr Giles to resign, and for Direction 99 to be repealed.
“Really, the only person who can take responsibility for this is ultimately Andrew Giles, and if he refuses to do so, then the Prime Minister should do so,” Mr Paterson said.
“We think Andrew Giles should be sacked and we think Direction 99 should be immediately repealed and replaced with the previous direction to the department and the AAT, which required other factors to be weighted much more highly than someone’s ties to Australia.”
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil leapt to the defence of Mr Giles on Wednesday morning, declaring the Immigration Minister was “taking action” on the situation.
“We’re really deeply concerned about some of these decisions,” she told 7’s Sunrise.
“It does appear that the decisions made by this independent Tribunal are not meeting community expectations and not putting proper stead on the importance that we place on community safety.
“So actually Minister Giles has stepped in here. He’s taking action as a good minister would do.”
Ms O’Neil said the Immigration Minister was in the process of reviewing the decisions of more than two dozen visa cases.
“He’s demanded answers from the department about why these visas were not bought to his attention,” she said.
“He’s actively reviewing about 30 cases that we’re concerned about indeed he’s already cancelled some of those visas.
“So he’s doing the right thing. He stepped in at the right moment. It’s important that this action is taken.”