Peter Dutton and Immigration department’s new powers can overrule courts on criminals’ citizenship rights
EXCLUSIVE: IMMIGRATION Minister Peter Dutton will be given powers to overrule courts that disagree with his department and grant criminals citizenship.
NSW
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IMMIGRATION Minister Peter Dutton will be given powers to overrule any courts that disagree with his department and grant citizenship to criminals.
The Turnbull government’s tough new citizenship laws, which will be introduced to parliament this week, will allow Mr Dutton to set aside decisions made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Mr Dutton can already overrule the AAT on some other immigration matters.
The AAT controversially overturned a decision to deport several Iranian boat people who returned to Iran for holidays and weddings after claiming they would be in serious harm if they were sent back to the country.
YOUNG MIGRANT THUGS COULD BE KICKED OUT
The citizenship laws will protect personal decisions about citizenship made by Mr Dutton and his successors from merits reviews.
It will also provide Mr Dutton powers to personally set aside decisions of the AAT if it is in the public interest to do so.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Dutton announced the overhaul of citizenship changes, first flagged by The Daily Telegraph, in April.
It will introduce a tougher values test and require people to demonstrate they have integrated into Australian society.
It also extends the length of time on permanent residency needed before applications for citizenship are considered.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed yesterday the legislation will also give Mr Dutton the power to revoke the citizenship of Australians suspected of gaining citizenship through migration fraud or citizenship fraud, even if there hasn’t been a conviction.
Mr Dutton yesterday called on Labor to support the changes, after several MPs raised concerns about the citizenship reforms.
“We’re happy to continue to work with the crossbench senators as well as the Labor Party, but this really is a test for (Opposition Leader Bill) Shorten because we want the Labor Party to support the government,” he said.
It is understood that the AAT has, in recent years, rejected a departmental ruling denying citizenship to an alleged people smuggler.
It has also overturned application rejections for someone jailed for manslaughter and another convicted of sexually assault minors.
Mr Dutton has clashed with the AAT over other immigration decisions, where he can already intervene, calling some rulings “infuriating”.
In one instance, the AAT overturned a ruling and granted a protection visa to an asylum seeker who later made three return trips to Iran, including one to get married under Islamic law, an event conducted by the Iranian authorities he was supposedly terrified of.
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