AAT overturned decisions to cancel the visas of armed robbers, a child sex offender

MORE controversial AAT decisions have been revealed as members and staff head to the Sunshine Coast for a three-day talkfest, costing taxpayers $600,000.

DECISIONS to cancel the visas of two serial armed robbers, an accused child sex offender and a prolific burglar were recently overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The Herald Sun is revealing the latest controversial AAT rulings on the day about 300 AAT members and staff are jetting off on a $600,000 taxpayer-funded junket to the luxury Novotel Twin Waters resort on the Sunshine Coast.

An aerial view of Novotel Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast, the venue for an Administrative Appeals Tribunal talkfest that is costing taxpayers $600,000.

Three of the four men saved by the AAT would otherwise have been deported after delegates for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton cancelled their visas.

In the fourth case, AAT member Kira Raif gave German-born teacher’s aid Puig Rademacher his bridging visa back on May 10 so his application for a permanent partner visa could be heard.

A delegate for Mr Dutton cancelled Mr Rademacher’s bridging visa in January after he was charged with three counts of indecent treatment of a child and two drug offences.

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On May 16, former Labor Senator and now senior AAT member Linda Kirk overturned decisions made by Mr Dutton’s delegate to cancel the visas of serial armed robbers Teak Curran and Lewis Burton.

Ms Kirk did so in the case of US-born armed robber Curran despite finding Curran’s many offences involved violence and there “is a risk of the applicant continuing to reoffend”.

Curran was jailed in 2012 for 10 years for a series of armed robberies, including one in which he threatened a convenience store owner with a knife and said “give me your money, open the safe or I will kill you”.

In several other armed robberies he used a Taser on male and female staff in various shops, including tasering one victim seven times.

Former Labor Senator Linda Kirk with former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Ms Kirk is now a senior Administrative Appeals Tribunal member.

Burton also used a screwdriver to stab another victim in the back and chest, telling the AAT he had the screwdriver with him because it was what he used to clean out the pipe he used for smoking ice.

He also asked the AAT not to allow his deportation because “America is a much more dangerous country than here”.

British-born Burton has been convicted of a string of offences between 1996 and last year, including several armed robberies, assaulting a prison officer and drug possession and dealing.

In 2001 he robbed three service stations and a video store and used a chair, a knife and a meat cleaver to threaten the victims.

He committed two more armed robberies in 2009 and in 2014 he was jailed for five years after he held up a bottle shop by threatening the attendant with a broken bottle and telling him “open the till or I’ll shove this in your face”.

Burton assaulted a prison officer last year and was jailed for a further four months.

He has failed drug tests while in Villawood immigration detention centre and told the AAT he used ice while in Villawood and that while he has been incarcerated illegal drugs have been “readily available”.

Burton, who has a fiancee and a daughter in Australia, also told the AAT if he is deported he will be unable to visit the Australian graves of his mother, father and brother.

Ms Kirk revoked the decision to cancel Burton’s visa despite finding that “many of the applicant’s crimes were violent in nature, committed against vulnerable victims”.

She also saved him from deportation despite noting the Immigration Department had twice warned Burton of the consequences of him continuing to reoffend.

“These warnings, which the applicant did not heed, are further indications of the seriousness of the applicant’s offending,” Ms Kirk said in her written decision.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. His delegates have had more visa cancelling decisions overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Picture: Gary Ramage

On May 21, senior AAT member Milton Griffin, QC, quashed Mr Dutton’s delegate’s decision to cancel Fijian Shalvinesh Shalvindran’s visa.

Shalvindran’s visa was cancelled after he was convicted of a number of offences during nine court appearances between 2003 and 2017, including being jailed for three years and nine months over an aggravated burglary.

In his written ruling overturning the decision to deport Shalvindran, Mr Griffin said Shalvindran’s depression and ongoing need to be on a methadone program “may be more difficult to be dealt with in Fiji”.

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