NATION Migrant review ‘ out of touch’
AN ISLAMIC terrorist, a Vietnamese drug trafficker and a Bangladeshi conman are among criminals the Administrative Appeals Tribunal recently saved from deportation or being banned from Australia.
They are among several examples since just last month where the AAT has overruled visa decisions made by delegates acting on behalf of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
AAT members appeared to speak on behalf of all Australians by ruling that in two of the cases Australians would be happy to give the criminals “a second chance” by not booting them out of the country.
That yesterday prompted a former tribunal member and accredited specialist in immigration law to criticise the AAT.
“Having been a member of the Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunals for five years, it is apparent to me that many members of the AAT remain out of touch with community expectations,” Simon Jeans said.
Mr Jeans was a member of the Migration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Tribunal up until both bodies merged into the AAT in July 2015.
“Many of them are setting aside decisions made by the Immigration Department to cancel the visas of foreignborn criminals, fake refugees and fake spouses. AAT mem- bers are thwarting the Government’s decision to deport these people,” he said.
A report last week about the AAT overturning a decision made by a delegate for Minister Dutton to deport a member of Melbourne street gang Apex prompted Mr Jeans to go public with his concerns.
The gang member, 20, was saved by AAT deputy president Jan Redfern, who is also the head of the AAT’s migration and refugee division, despite Victoria Police telling her the thug had embarked on a sevenyear crime spree of a “violent and anti- social nature”.
“Allowing that Apex gang member to stay in Australia, despite his long criminal record, was a disgraceful decision by the AAT,” Mr Jeans said.
He said several other recent AAT decisions were just as bad, particularly the one granting a partner visa to a man identified as “Mr Khalil”, the Palestinian husband of Australian citizen Krystal Trikilis, so he could join her in Sydney.
He did so on September 6 despite an Israeli military court convicting him of being a member of the Islamic terrorist group the Al- Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
“Collectively, these recent decisions indicate there are still many AAT members who are hopelessly out of touch with what the vast majority of Australians expect of them,” Mr Jeans said.