May 27, 2024
CHRIS O'KEEFE: The Australian newspaper has now uncovered multiple examples of serious offenders who have failed Australia's character test and were going to be deported. But because of the Labor government's Direction 99, they're free to stay here. For his reaction let's welcome the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, Senator James Paterson. Senator, thanks for your time.
JAMES PATERSON: Good to be with you, Chris.
O'KEEFE: This is all very serious stuff.
PATERSON: It is. I mean, a strong Prime Minister would have stood up for Australia and put our interests first, not caved into the demands of Jacinda Ardern. But the consequences of Anthony Albanese giving in to Jacinda Ardern has meant that serious criminals, including an alleged murderer, including someone who allegedly raped their own stepdaughter, have been allowed to stay in Australia as a result of this ministerial direction. In simple terms for your listeners, this is an instruction from Andrew Giles to his department about when they should cancel visas.
O'KEEFE: And effectively they've said well, this guy was in Australia for a long, long time, he might not be a citizen, but Direction 99, this is the Minister. He's wishes, this is the federal government's wishes. He is not to be deported, correct?
PATERSON: That's exactly right. But under the previous government, we took the view that if you're not a citizen and you commit a serious crime, we don't care how long you've been here, you will be deported. And if we have a Liberal government in this country again, a Peter Dutton Liberal government, that will happen again. We won't allow sex offenders and murderers to stay in our country who are non-citizens, just because they've been here for a few years.
O'KEEFE: One thing I did notice, in the Morrison years a lot of the to and fro with New Zealand were effectively because, there are some Kiwis who had been here in Australia since they were one, two, three years old. We are talking about guys in their 30s and 40s and they just hadn't gone to the effort to become Australian citizens, but for all intents and purposes they were Australians.
PATERSON: That's true. But in the case of some of these people that we're learning about in the media this week they were 16 or 17 or 18 when they came to Australia. They did have their formative experiences overseas and not just in New Zealand, but lots of other countries. Because the other issue here is that the Prime Minister might have wanted to appease Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand, but the decision that his Immigration Minister hasn't made applies to the entire world. And so people from all over the world are using this direction to game the system and stay in Australia, even after they've clearly violated the character provisions of the Migration Act.
O'KEEFE: That's pretty easy. If you've been in Australia for a long time, become a citizen, right?
PATERSON: Exactly. That's the choices available to you. You can apply for it, if you haven't well that's on you.
O'KEEFE: James Paterson, appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
PATERSON: Thank you.
ENDS
