Minister blindsided by lack of information on offenders, Home Affairs confesses
Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster acknowledged that her department failed to provide advice to immigration minister Andrew Giles regarding tribunal decisions that allowed non-citizens to remain in Australia despite committing serious offences.
Mr. Giles has faced significant pressure from the opposition due to a ministerial direction that factored a foreign national’s ties to Australia into tribunal decisions on visa cancellations.
This issue arose after a New Zealand man, identified as CHCY, retained his visa from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal despite being convicted of raping his stepdaughter.
During a senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Foster stated, “The department did fail him [Minister Giles]; we did not follow our protocol and specifically did not provide advice on the cases that have received media attention.”
Ministerial direction 99 was established in January 2023 in response to concerns from the New Zealand government about the deportation of individuals with closer ties to Australia than to New Zealand.
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The directive outlined considerations like community protection, family violence, ties to Australia, and the welfare of children in visa cases.
Furthermore, Home Affairs officials disclosed that they granted 3,309 visitor visas to Israelis and 2,341 to Palestinians following the Gaza conflict between Oct. 7 and March 31.
Of the Palestinian visa recipients, 571 arrived safely in Australia, according to the committee.
Responding to questions from Green senator David Shoebridge, officials explained that most Palestinians were fleeing violence in Gaza.
During the same period, Palestinians submitted a total of 9,600 tourist visa applications, with 1,831 being denied.
It was acknowledged that the refusal rate for Palestinian tourist visas was above average.
Senator Shoebridge criticized the government for providing approximately $440,000 in financial aid to the 571 Palestinians, considering it inadequate support for individuals fleeing a war zone.
Shoebridge also questioned the department on the pending abolishment of the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) established under the Abbott Coalition government.
Ms. Foster mentioned that the decisions made by the IAA would likely stand, requiring ministerial interventions to overturn any rulings.
However, Shoebridge expressed practical concerns about the workload this would impose on a minister.
