Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the government will revise its controversial Direction 99 ruling which instructed the Australian Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to give greater tolerance to foreign offenders with “ties to Australia”.
Mr Albanese confirmed the move during Question Time on Wednesday afternoon, saying the AAT will be replaced by the new Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).
“The only effective way of ensuring the Tribunal members are making better decisions is to issue a new revised direction which the Minister will be doing,” Mr Albanese said.
“The new directive will ensure that the protection the committee outweighs any other consideration.”
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, who has faced mounting pressure to resign as the visa saga worsens, will provide a revised directive to the Administrative Review Tribunal which will be guided by “protection of the community and commonsense”.
“The new direction will ensure that all members of the ART will adopt a common sense approach to visa decisions, consistent with the intent of ministerial direction 99,” Mr Giles said, adding the new approach will “strengthen the principles of community safety”.
“This is a change that will guide all decision-makers within the department of the AAT and the new ART to ensure that better decisions are made in line with the expectations of the Government and the community,” the Immigration Minister said.
Mr Giles, who faced a barrage of targeted questions during Wednesday’s Question Time, said the changes will “progress expeditiously” when asked about a foreign offender who assaulted his wife and son.
“I can say that I have already briefed senior officials of my department so that these changes can progress expeditiously,” the Immigration Minister said.
Mounting criticism of Direction 99 built over the past week after a series of reports arose of foreign offenders retaining their visas despite committing heinous crimes.
It was revealed Wednesday morning by The Australian a man who can stay in Australia under the direction had attacked 25 women and a child.
Earlier in the week, reports arose that a child rapist was one of the foreign offenders allowed to remain in Australia under Direction 99.
Alongside this, a Sudanese migrant and convicted criminal, who breached his AVO and violently attacked his Aboriginal girlfriend, retained his visa under Direction 99 by self-identifying as Indigenous.
Shadow minister for finance Jane Hume called upon the PM to sack Minister Giles amid the building pressure on the Labor MP.
“If Minister Giles can’t step up and either take responsibility and resign, then Anthony Albanese must sack him,” Ms Hume told Sky News’ Laura Jayes on Wedndesday.
Mr Giles’ Direction 99 originally stated: “Australia will generally afford a higher level of tolerance of criminal or other serious conduct by non-citizens who have lived in the Australian community for most of their life.”