Deporting foreign criminals brings big savings to taxpayers
HUNDREDS of millions of taxpayer dollars have been saved by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton kicking thousands of foreign-born criminals out of Australia.
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HUNDREDS of millions of taxpayer dollars have been saved by kicking thousands of foreign-born criminals out of Australia.
Figures released to the Herald Sun reveal a continuing blitz on such offenders by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has already resulted in almost 3700 violent thugs, sex perverts and drug traffickers being stripped of their visas.
Australian Institute of Criminology researchers recently forensically examined the circumstances of 184 of them and found cancelling just those few visas saved more than $100 million.
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It was too big a task for the AIC to study the thousands of visa cancelling cases to work out the total saving to Australian taxpayers — but it runs into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Changes made in December 2014 allow Mr Dutton or his delegate to cancel or refuse the visa of a person on the grounds they don’t meet the character requirements set out in the Migration Act.
Being a member or former member of an organisation reasonably suspected of being involved in crime — such as any bikie or ex-bikie — is now sufficient for Mr Dutton to cancel that person’s visa.
The Herald Sun can reveal that as of June 30 this year that character test power has been used against 3687 foreign-born criminals.
Mr Dutton on Tuesday said bikie gang members were the biggest importers and distributors of drugs in Australia.
“Right across our country we’ve been working with the state policing agencies to identify the top criminal targets — including outlaw motorcycle gang members who are peddling ice to our young people in rural communities and regional communities — and we are cancelling those visas and deporting those people,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I’ve cancelled more visas of non-citizens who have committed crimes against Australian citizens in the last 12 months than Labor did in six years and that means that communities right across this country are safer.”
Of the 3687 criminals stripped of their Australian visas since December 2014, 1219 of them were convicted of assaults, grievous bodily harm, domestic violence and other violent crimes; 633 were drug traffickers and dealers; there were 151 rapists; 98 killers and 1586 people convicted of theft, robbery, white collar and other crimes.
The AIC recently examined the cases of 139 bikies and 45 other foreign-born organised crime offenders who were ordered out of Australia during the past four years.
Its report, which has been seen by the Herald Sun, revealed:
CANCELLING and refusing the visas of the 184 organised crime offenders saved an estimated $116 million.
BIKIES commit more crimes and more serious crimes than other organised crime offenders.
BY the age of 60, the average bikie in Australia will have spent almost seven years in jail at a cost to taxpayers of more than $800,000 for each of them.
CRIMES committed by bikies cost the community an average of $526,462 per bikie compared with the average cost of just under $320,000 for other organised crime offenders.
BIKIES are significantly more likely to have committed violent offences than other organised crime figures.
CANCELLING a bikie’s visa at age 20 would save the Australian taxpayer an average of $1.3 million per offender.
Notorious bikies who have been stripped of their Australian visas after failing the character test include former Rebels national president Alex Vella, Aaron “AJ” Graham and Danny Mousley.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission asked the AIC to calculate the taxpayer savings associated with cancelling or refusing the visas of bikies and other organised crime members — and to establish the extent and type of offending by bikies compared with other organised criminals.
To enable it to do so the ACIC gave the AIC access to its extensive databases and the conclusions reached in the AIC report were based on a sample of 6154 offenders responsible for 97, 706 offences committed by 611 bikies and 5543 other organised crime figures.
The AIC report said the $116 million taxpayers saved as a result of the 184 visa cancellations it studied is a very conservative figure as it doesn’t include the cost of police investigating the crimes or the cost of processing the offenders through the courts.
“Offending by Outlaw Motorcycle Group members starts serious and stays serious, while the seriousness of offending by other organised crime offenders increases over time,” it said.
“Cancelling the visas of these individuals prevents them from committing further offences in Australia, which, besides the obvious benefits to community safety, may also generate significant savings to the Australian taxpayer.”
Of the 3687 foreign-born criminals stripped of their visas since December 2014, 1299 of them were from New South Wales, 1009 were from Queensland, 627 were from Victoria and 543 were from Western Australia.
Of the 184 cases examined by the AIC, 52 were from NSW, 42 from WA, 28 from Queensland and 24 from Victoria.