Love him or hate him, Donald Trump may well be banned from our shores after a recent felony conviction for a ‘hush payment’ that allegedly broke the rules of election finance.
Without getting into the technicalities of the trial, Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsification of business records which is a felony in New York and was last week found guilty.
Under section 501 of the Commonwealth Migration Act, the ‘decision of Minister or delegate’ may refuse to grant a visa to a person if the person does not satisfy the Minister that the person passes the character test.
One can fail the character test if they have a substantial criminal record which can be defined as a prison term of over 12 months.
Going off Trump’s press conference in which he claimed he was facing up to 187 years, we’re pretty sure his record could be defined as ‘substantial’.
That being said, it’s unlikely the federal government would actually refuse Trump should he wish to visit.
Federal immigration ministers are given discretion over the final decision and although his record may qualify, it would more than likely be a diplomatic situation the government would rather avoid.
Trump also holds a diplomatic passport, which means he can travel to Australia without a visa, but only on official government business.
Trump won’t be the only big name banned from Australia in recent years.
Djokovic’s visa was cancelled by the Australian Border Force (ABF) in 2022 after failing to provide the appropriate documents for entry into Australia.
“The ABF can confirm that Mr Djokovic failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia, and his visa has been subsequently cancelled,” the ABF said in a statement at the time.
“Non-citizens who do not hold a valid visa on entry or who have had their visa cancelled will be detained and removed from Australia.”
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