May 31, 2024
Albo put NZ ahead of our safety, says Dutton
Dragged into a visa debacle with accusations he prioritised the wishes of New Zealand over Australians' safety, Anthony Albanese is under increasing pressure to sack his embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
The Prime Minister has rejected claims he was lobbied by former NZ leader Jacinda Ardern to put in place a migration directive that spared dozens of foreign criminals from deportation, but the Coalition has argued someone in government still has to "pay a price" for the debacle.
Despite the severity of some crimes, greater weight was placed on a non-citizen's connection to Australia in visa cancellation cases under the "Direction 99", which Mr Giles is scrambling to rewrite.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Mr Giles, who was already under fire for the bungled handling of a High Court ruling that resulted in 153 foreign criminals being set free last year, should now lose his job. "Mr Giles should resign and the Prime Minister should sack him if he doesn't resign," he said.
A man who attacked his pregnant partner and another who was a career criminal convicted for assault, robbery, weapons and drug offences were among the dozens of offenders who had their visa cancellations overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) citing Direction 99, issued by Mr Giles in January 2023.
Six months earlier Mr Albanese had met with Ms Ardern, who raised her ongoing concern about the deportation of New Zealand criminals who had lived in Australia for the majority of their lives.
This connection prompted the Coalition to broaden its immigration attack, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Thursday accusing Mr Albanese of putting his "close and personal relationship" with Ms Ardern ahead of Australians' safety.
"(Mr Albanese) owns this debacle on Direction 99 because it was his own undertaking to the former New Zealand PM that led to weakening our laws," Mr Dutton said.
"The government has shown it is incapable of taking the decisions needed to protect our community." During question time Mr Albanese said it was "just completely wrong" to suggest any minister would go through specific directions in ministerial guidelines with a foreign counterpart.
"We determine our own policy according (to) our own interests and that is what we have done," he said.
The cases permitted to stay in Australia citing Direction 99 include an Iranian man known as YVBM, who be tween 2019 and 2022 was convicted with seven counts of assault, including five against his pregnant partner.
In another case, Serbian citizen Peter Dobrosavljevic who "committed crimes in every state of Australia in which he has lived" over a 40 year period had his visa can cancellation overturned.
Over the four decades, he - robbed shops and homes, carried weapons including a gun, r committed assault, and sup plied drugs.
Eight visas reinstated due to Direction 99 have now been cancelled and 30 more are under urgent review by Mr Giles.
