The Morrison Government is set to introduce changes to its Migration Act, which would see more people automatically fail the "character test" and make it easier to cancel a person’s visa.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said the government will “act decisively to protect our community, as Australians expect.”
Effectively the changes mean if a person has been convicted of a “serious criminal offence” (violent and sexual crimes, using or possessing a weapon, breaching personal protection orders), and they’re punishable for two years, they’ll likely fail the character test and be deported.
A senior human rights lawyer says the legislation is flawed and unnecessary. (Source: 1News)
Proposed changes also mean that if they’ve received less than 12-months imprisonment for their crimes, but still pose a risk to the Australian community, they can also be deported on character grounds.
The Immigration Minister is leveraging the recent scandal around Novak Djokovic, saying: “It should not be easier to deport an international sports star than a convicted criminal".
“That’s why this Bill broadens existing discretionary powers to cancel and refuse visas under the 'character test'.”
This will be the Morrison Government’s third attempt to bring in sweeping changes, with the latest proposal already attracting criticism.
Scott Cosgriff, senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre says the legislation is flawed and unnecessary.
If passed, these new laws would lead to more people being detained, including people who arrived in Australia as children and have lived almost all their lives here.
“Parliament must reject this desperate power grab in the dying days of this parliamentary term.”
"The bill would lower an already excessively low threshold for the Minister to be able to rip a person away from their families, lock them up in a detention centre and deport them to a country that is not their home, even when that person has lived in Australia for decades.”
“Instead of flogging this dead horse the Morrison government should focus on fixing the many failures of immigration detention.”
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