Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has issued new guidelines that will make it more difficult for criminals who were not born in Australia to stay in the country.
Ministerial Direction 99, which was heavily attacked, will be replaced with the recently released Ministerial Direction 110.
Giles issued that last year, directing the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to give priority to an individual’s Australian ties while determining whether to renew their visa.
Since then, the opposition has sharply criticised the government’s handling of the matter after the AAT reinstated the visas of several offenders, including a convicted serial rapist, an accused killer, and another sexual offender.
Giles stated that the new course placed more emphasis on “the protection of the Australian community and common sense” than it did on an individual’s past ties to the country.
“This new revised direction makes crystal clear that the government expects the protection of the Australian community be given greater weight in visa decisions,” he stated.
“In order to reinforce the recently altered course, the administration has also taken other actions. ”
The government’s first priority is the safety of the Australian people, as stated in the updated direction, which also incorporates this as a fundamental tenet of the framework for making decisions.
“It elevates the impact on victims of family violence and their families into one of the existing primary considerations, reflecting the government’s zero-tolerance approach to family and domestic violence.”
On June 21, the new course of action will take effect.
In the upcoming two weeks, the AAT would hear about ten cases under the previous instruction, which Giles promised to “very closely” monitor. “I will consider cancellation of any visas granted back in the national interest,” he stated.
