Pregnant girlfriend attacker and serial robber set free under Direction 99

More criminals have been set free under a controversial directive given by embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, prompting Opposition calls for him to be sacked.

Dragged into a visa debacle with accusations he prioritised the wishes of New Zealand over Australians’ safety, Anthony Albanese is under increasing pressure to sack his embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

The Prime Minister has rejected claims he was lobbied by former NZ leader Jacinda Ardern to put in place a migration directive that spared dozens of foreign criminals from deportation, but the Coalition has argued someone in government still has to “pay a price” for the debacle.

Despite the severity of some crimes, greater weight was placed on a non-citizens connection to Australia in visa cancellation cases under the “Direction 99”, which Mr Giles is now scrambling to rewrite.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Mr Giles, who was already under fire for the bungled handling of a High Court ruling that resulted in 153 foreign criminals being set free last year, should now lose his job.

“(Mr Giles) should resign and the Prime Minister should sack him if he doesn’t resign,” he said.

Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Minister Andrew Giles during Question Time. Picture: Martin Ollman

It can be revealed a man who attacked his pregnant partner and another who was a career criminal convicted for assault, robbery, weapons and drug offences are among the dozens of offenders who had their visa cancellations overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) citing “Direction 99”, which was issued by Mr Giles in January 2023.

Six months earlier Mr Albanese had met with Ms Ardern, who raised her ongoing concern about the deportation of New Zealand criminals who had lived in Australia for the majority of their lives.

This connection prompted the Coalition to broaden their immigration attack, with Opposition leader Peter Dutton on Thursday accusing Mr Albanese of putting his “close and personal relationship” with Ms Ardern ahead of Australians’ safety.

“(Mr Albanese) owns this debacle on Direction 99 because it was his own undertaking to the former New Zealand PM that led to weakening our laws,” Mr Dutton said.

“The government has shown it is incapable of taking the decisions needed to protect our community.”

During Question Time Mr Albanese said it was “just completely wrong” to suggest any minister would go through specific directions in ministerial guidelines with a foreign counterpart.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time. Picture: Martin Ollman

“What we do is we determine our own policy according (to) our own interests and that is what we have done,” he said.

The cases permitted to stay in Australia citing Direction 99 include an Iranian man known as YVBM who between 2019 and 2022 was convicted with seven counts of assault, including five against his partner.

In one incident YVBM hit his heavily pregnant partner’s leg and hand in front of their “very young daughter”, according to AAT documents.

In another case, Serbian citizen Peter Dobrosavljevic who “committed crimes in every state of Australia in which he has lived” over a 40-year period had his visa cancellation overturned.

Over the four decades, he robbed shops and homes, carried weapons including a gun, committed assault, and supplied drugs.

Eight visas reinstated due to Direction 99 have now been cancelled and 30 more are under urgent review, with Mr Giles saying on Thursday he was “working day and night” to deal with the issues.

Labor has also turned the attack back onto the Coalition, pointing out 102 sex offenders, 40 domestic violence offenders and 64 child sex offenders were allowed to remain in Australia during Mr Dutton’s tenure as minister in the last government.

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