Maraku ’failed character test’
KIWI who escaped a jail sentence for coward-punching a teenager in Surfers Paradise is in a detention facility as Australian Border Force finalises his one-way ticket back to New Zealand in the coming weeks.
Caleb Maraku, 19, is the latest foreigner to be kicked out of Australia for failing the character test – a requirement all visa holders and non-citizens have to pass if they want to stay here. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has taken a no-nonsense approach to the discretionary rule, using the character test to deport thousands of people who commit crimes on Australian soil.
“Many of these people that are committing offences don’t deserve to become Australian citizens,” Mr Dutton told A Current Affair.
“If we can cancel their visas before they become Australian citizens we are going to save on welfare, we are going to be a safer society.”
Mr Dutton compared foreign nationals committing crimes in Australia to someone being invited into your home only to be harmed by them. “You you don’t start assaulting the residents of that house, you don’t start assaulting Australian citizens and if you do you are shown the door,” he said.
“That’s what we have done in a record number of cases.”