Tribunal allows foreign-born crims to stay in Australia

There have been plenty of stories out there about people being allowed to stay in Australia, despite their criminal pasts.

But a few reports from the media lately have been people, including the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, angry.

The Immigration Department has cancelled the visas of a number of foreign-born criminals in a bid to have them deported.

However, many of those people have successfully had their visa cancellations overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – essentially saving them from deportation and allowing them to remain in the country.

A scathing editorial piece in the Courier Mail has accused the tribunal of ‘rolling out the welcome mat for murderers’.

It exposes some of the criminals who’ve been allowed to stay in the country by the tribunal.

They include:

• A doctor from India who sexually assaulted a patient
• A Scottish criminal with a history of violent crimes including 62 convictions such as rape, assault, theft and robbery with violence
• A Somalian man who robbed, assaulted and threatened to kill a taxi driver
• A Vietnamese man who has had 62 convictions in 15 years including assaults, weapons offences and unlawful wounding
• A Colombian pedophile who sexually assaulted his 11-year-old stepdaughter

As the Courier Mail editorial piece states, Dutton hit out at the tribunal last week for being “politically biased”.

“When you look at some of the judgments that are made, the sentences that are handed down, it’s always interesting to go back and look at the appointment of the particular Labor government of the day,” he told radio 4BC.

“It’s the frustration we live with.”

His comments follow those of Liberal Senator Barry O’Sullivan, who is calling for a review of the appointment of members of the tribunal because he believes “it’s clearly not working”.

As the Herald Sun reports, the tribunal has defended its decisions, describing them as “comprehensive”.

“Obviously we are concerned whenever there is coverage that might undermine confidence in the tribunal but we welcome scrutiny,” AAT registrar Sian Leathem told the publication.

What do you think about this? Should foreign-born criminals be allowed to stay in Australia?