Violent foreign criminals face easy deportation under visa plan

Violent foreign criminals would no longer be able to avoid deportation from judges giving softer sentences, under a proposed shake up.

Violent foreign criminals would no longer be able to avoid deportation from judges giving softer sentences, under a proposed shake up Prime Minister Scott Morrison says is about “about the safety of Australians across the country”.

The Federal Government will on Wednesday resurrect its attempts to pass laws to cancel the visas of foreign citizens convicted of a crime punishable by two years jail regardless of the sentence they receive.

But it will face an uphill battle to get through, with just two days left in March for the Senate to pass it before the election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is attempting to pass tougher character test laws which would make it easier to deport foreign criminals. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The Government has repeatedly failed to pass it since 2018, with it most recently being knocked back in October last year.

After a disastrous week in parliament, Mr Morrison is seeking to put pressure back on Labor, urging the Opposition to back the laws they previously rejected because “Australia’s national interest demands it”.

“The safety of Australians across the country relies on Labor standing up to The Greens, and giving our border force the powers they need to deport foreign criminals,” Mr Morrison will say.

Labor has rejected the laws previously and continues to hold concerns that low-level offenders could get caught up in them.

Currently, a person must be sentences to at least 12 months in jail before deportation is triggered under the character test within the Migration Act.

There have been examples where judges have sought to offer lesser sentences to avoid triggering deportation.

Among examples to be pointed to by the government, the Victorian Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of a 23-year-old sentenced for a 2019 armed robbery from two years and two months down to nine months, with the “threat of deportation hanging over his head” listed among the mitigating factors.

Opposition Home Affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally has previously said the government was more interested in politics than a pragmatic solution on the character test impasse. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

In October last year, Opposition Home Affairs spokeswoman Senator Kristina Keneally said the government had been “more interested in the political outcome than a pragmatic solution”.

There were 946 visa cancellations under the character test in 2020-21, 1018 cancellations in 2019-20, and 5926 cancellations since 2012-13.

There were 186 visa cancellations in Queensland in 2020-21, according to Home Affairs department data.

Drug offences were the most common reason for visa cancellation, followed by assault, child sex offences, murder and domestic violence.