Giles’ admission is the latest embarrassment for the minister, who has vowed to fix a major deportation upset caused by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal’s interpretation of his ministerial direction 99, and overturned a series of visa cancellations for people convicted of serious crimes.
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Following extensive lobbying from New Zealand, the policy directed a person’s ties to Australia to be a primary consideration, alongside the nature of the crime, in deciding whether someone should be deported. However, the government has now pledged to make community safety the biggest factor.
Giles said he had now cancelled 30 visas of people with serious criminal histories after their status had been reinstated by the tribunal.
“It is clear that the AAT’s decision to reinstate these visas did not meet community expectations, and ministerial direction 99 has not been working as the government intended,” Giles said. “The government is on track to overhaul this regime and put in place a new direction before the end of the week.”
The tribunal has also cited earlier rules, including direction 90 under the previous Coalition government, to overturn similar decisions by the Department of Home Affairs to cancel visas and seek to deport criminals.
In a tit-for-tat over both major political parties’ stance on immigration, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also accused the Coalition of releasing 1300 “hardcore criminals” from detention during its time in office.
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