Killers, rapists among foreign criminals saved from deportation: Report

Killers, rapists and drug dealers were among the foreign-born criminals saved by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal over the last eight years, it has been claimed.

An investigation by the ­Herald Sun newspaper revealed there were 164 cases where criminals were saved from having their visas cancelled, or simply not granted, over the last eight years. Of those, eight were convicted murderers, 17 were rapists, 33 were drug dealers and 23 were found guilty of armed robbery.

Ministerial delegates had reportedly argued that the original visa decisions were necessary to ensure the safety of Australians, and also noted the criminals’ “substantial criminal records”.

Surprisingly, the publication also found the tribunal has overturned more decisions than it has upheld. Having reviewed 13,755 visa decisions by delegates in the past financial year, it rejected 5276 and approved only 5110.

The AAT provides independent reviews on decisions made by government departments. Its panellists are not publicly named, although its most senior executives are, and most of its decisions are not made publicly available. Those that are can be tricky to find.

An AAT spokeswoman told the Herald Sun that the tribunal valued public scrutiny, while its members are subject to Federal Court supervision.

They’re reportedly ­required to apply the law and any relevant ministerial directions, while the spokeswoman added that members are also asked to consider extra information that might not have been put before the delegate in advance.

It comes after an Iraqi father-of-seven with multiple criminal convictions managed to avoid deportation recently – despite him allegedly pretending to be a gay Christian to stay in the country. 

Read more: Deportation row rages on as tribunal saves ‘fake gay, Christian criminal’

Documents showed that the man – who had been claiming a disability support pension in Australia since 2014 and had stacked up almost 30 criminal convictions since arriving in Australia by boat in 1999 – told authorities his alleged sexuality and religious conversion could cause him to be him persecuted if he were forced to return to Iraq. 

After formally warning him in 2010 that further convictions would put his visa in danger, Dutton’s department finally stripped the refugee of his visa in December 2016, resulting in him being put in immigration detention. It was then that the man applied to the AAT to overthrow the decision, and the panel has now given him his Australian visa back.

Read more: Tribunal blocks Dutton’s attempt to cancel visa for deadly boob job nurse

Another case saw the AAT allow a woman facing manslaughter charges to retain her Australian student visa.

Dutton himself has previously shared his anger over some of the AAT’s more controversial rulings, and as a result, he won a battle last year for the power to overrule any AAT visa decision he believes is wrong.

Starts at 60 has contacted the AAT and Peter Dutton for comment.

Do you think it’s fair that the AAT can overrule decisions on deportation?