Visa cancellation for the criminals of other countries who commit crimes in Australia has become something of a joke. Their deportation is usually appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ( AAT ) and in the majority of cases it cancels that visa cancellation and allows the offender to remain in this country.
The purpose of an appeals tribunal is to have a case review to ensure that justice has been served and the usual expectation is that only a very small number of appeals would be successful. In the case of the AAT - it is rare for a deportation order to stand as this tribunal seems to lean over backward to find in favour of the offender. It is the reasoning that the tribunal gives for it's decisions that rile many Australian citizens.
A New Zealand citizen here on a visa was convicted of an unusually vicious robbery of a prominent Melbourne doctor. After serving his sentence he was due to be deported back to New Zealand, but the AAT decided that " he would have difficulty adjusting to life in New Zealand " - and allowed him to continue his life in Australia. This certainly raises the question of how the lifestyle of Australia and New Zealand differs ?
The case of a 40 year old Vietnamese man living here on a visa riles many people. This man has a seventeen year criminal record that includes theft, robbery and weapons offences - and he is a heroin addict. The AAT heard that he had a high risk of continuing to reoffend, and yet the tribunal cancelled the deportation order. It seems that Australia is stuck with the presence of a foreign criminal who will continue to fund his heroin addiction by criminal activity - because the AAT has considered the differing attitude to drugs in Australia and Vietnam.
Australia punishes drug offenders with moderate gaol terms. In Vietnam, these offences bring the death penalty. It seems that the AAT invoked the rule that Australia does not deport felons where this action might lead to capital punishment - despite that only becoming a possibility if he commits drug offences after he is returned to Vietnam. It seems he may resume his crime spree in Australia because he will receive an unacceptable form of punishment if he chooses to continue to do that in Vietnam after deportation. This shows little concern for the inevitable victims of his continued Australian presence !
It seems that the Federal Immigration Minister has the power to cancel visas on " character grounds " - and that these are not subject to appeal by the AAT. If that is the only way we can get rid of criminal offenders in this country it is a sad state of affairs. It is clearly evident that the AAT is not doing the job it was formed to do and that each deportation that appears before it should get an impartial review and a considered verdict - and that is not happening.
When a part of the judiciary becomes corrupted by adopting a stance that varies from both the law and the expectations of the office it holds, that function needs review and replacement by a body which has been purged of contamination - and that is the function of the Federal parliament. The political divisions of the parliament make this difficult, but it must surely be the long term aim of any government in office to ensure that the nation's judiciary obeys the balance of fair and impartial hearings of all matters before them.
We do not need other nation's criminals given a free pass to continue their activities here !
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