The Albanese government is set to make community safety the “number one priority” in deportation cases, a government minister has revealed.
Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Immigrations Minister Andrew Giles have come under fire over the creation of Ministerial Directive 99 since it was revealed the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) had used it as the basis to reinstate the visas of at least 30 people, including individuals with “extensive” criminal records.
The directive was implemented during the government’s first week in office in response to pleas from former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who had been highly critical of the Morrison government for deporting New Zealand citizens convicted of criminal offences despite the individuals having spent most of their lives in Australia.
Speaking to ABC Insiders on Sunday, Queensland Senator Murray Watt said the government never intended for Directive 99 to have the outcome it did.
“What it aimed to do was to recognize the difficult situation where some people involved have been in Australia for a long time, in some cases, since they were a toddler or a baby,” he said
“But that doesn’t mean that we intended for community safety to be relegated below that as a priority.”
Mr Watt, who is both the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the minister for Emergency Management, said that the Immigration Department had advised the government that the directive would not impact cases where there was “serious offenses” committed.
“Of course, that’s not the way the AAT has interpreted it,” the Minister said.
“They interpreted it in a way that was never intended by the government, and that’s exactly why we’re now taking action to fix it.”
The embattled immigration minister announced plans to introduce a new directive that would ensure “all members” of the AAT will adopt a “common sense approach to visa decisions, consistent with the intent of Ministerial Direction 99”.
Minister Watt provided further details on Sunday, telling Insiders host David Spears the new directive would make community safety the top factor to be considered.
“What we’re doing now is making it absolutely crystal clear for the AAT and departmental officials interpreting it, that community safety is to be the number one priority more than anything else,” the Queensland Senator said.
However, when asked whether it was a mistake to implement Directive 99, Mr Watt said it was not, despite admitting it placed length of stay in Australia an issue to be considered alongside community safety.
“I don’t think it was because… the way it’s been interpreted was very different to how the government intended,” the Minister said.
“What would have been a mistake is if the government had said that we want to put duration of stay above community safety, and we didn’t do that.”
Mr Watt then attacked the record of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, stating there were “1,300 criminals released on his watch” when he was Home Affairs Minister.
“We’ve actually found out today that when it came to visa cancellations being overturned by the department, in Peter Dutton’s reign, 40 per cent of the decisions were overturned by his department – we’ve nearly halved that,” Mr Watt said.
“We’ve deported more criminals in our first year in office… than happened in the previous year of the former government.
“The Department, at the time Peter Dutton was the minister, was overturning visa cancellations at double the rate our government has done. And of course, we put in place further protections that were never employed by Peter Dutton when he was the minister.
Victorian Senator James Paterson defended the Opposition Leader’s record on Sky News Australia’s Sunday Agenda, telling Political Editor Andrew Clennell Mr Dutton had a “very strong record”.
“Peter Dutton intervened more often personally than any other Minister for Immigration or Home Affairs since Federation, and cancelled 6,300 visas,” the shadow home affairs minister said.
“And what is the allegation here, Andrew? That Peter Dutton is soft on foreign criminals? Does anybody seriously believe that? Do you believe that?
“I mean, this is a guy who cancelled visas over breakfast in the morning. I don’t think it’s going to be a very successful line of argument to run to say that Peter Dutton, of all people, is soft on foreign criminals.”