Administrative Appeals Tribunal overturns ministerial decision to deport Apex gang member

A DANGEROUS Apex gang member who was due to be kicked out of Australia after a seven-year crime spree has been saved by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton. Picture AAP Image/Darren England

A DANGEROUS Apex gang member who was due to be kicked out of Australia has been saved by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

It overturned a decision to deport him despite being told by police the thug embarked on a seven-year crime spree of a “violent and anti-social nature” that began when he was 13.

The reasons for the ministerial decision to force the Apex gang member, 20, back to New Zealand included that he “was or may be a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community”.

AT IS HIDING ITS MIGRANT AND REFUGEE VISA DECISIONS

FAKE IRANIAN REFUGEES SAVED BY THE AAT

AT OVERTURNED DECISIONS TO DEPORT MURDERERS AND RAPISTS

Offences on his appalling criminal record include armed robbery, theft, recklessly causing injury, assaulting police, resisting arrest, assaulting an emergency worker, illegal drug use and possession, obtaining property by deception, committing offences while on bail and breaching a probation order.

A delegate for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton cancelled the Apex gang member’s visa in February and he has been in detention awaiting deportation to New Zealand since.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s decision was overturned by the tribunal. Picture Kym Smith

Mr Dutton’s delegate told the AAT the serious and repetitive nature of the Apex gang member’s charges and convictions “indicated unacceptable behaviour in the Australian community and showed a disregard for Australian laws”.

The Apex hoodlum — who the AAT has chosen not to identify — immediately appealed to the AAT.

AT Deputy President Jan Redfern and AAT part-time member Alison Murphy last month jointly set aside the ministerial decision and substituted it with a decision not to cancel the man’s visa.

They did so even after the head of Victoria Police’s anti-gangs squad, Det-Supt Peter De Santo, this year gave written and verbal evidence to the AAT in May and July that the man the government wants to kick out of Australia:

IS a member of the Apex gang.

HAS taken a violent and aggressive leading role is serious offending as part of a group.

IS linked with other persons involved in serious crimes.

USES illegal drugs.

WAS involved in serious driving offences with other associates, including a police pursuit involving a car being driven on the wrong side of the road.

Superintendent Peter De Santo told the AAT the man the government wants to kick out of Australia is an Apex gang member.

The AAT members’ reasons for saving the Apex gang member from deportation included not wanting to separate him from his Melbourne-based family and the man’s mental condition — they were told he has been treated for mental illness since 2013 and was diagnosed as bipolar in 2014.

“We consider that the applicant’s criminal offending has at times been serious, although most of his convictions are not for crimes of violence,” the AAT’s written decision said.

“We have accepted he has been associated with a number of people who are known or believed by Victoria Police to be members of the Apex gang, although we have not accepted he himself is or has been a member of that gang.

“We accept his behaviour remains of concern and he remains at risk of reoffending, particularly in view of his serious mental illness.

“All these matters weigh towards cancellation of his visa.

“Weighing against these matters are the applicant’s long residence in this country, the fact his immediate family all reside here and the hardship that will be caused to the applicant and his family if his visa is cancelled.

“We consider the applicant has a compelling need to remain in Australia, given his illness and the care he receives from his mother.

“Considering the circumstances as a whole, the Tribunal concludes that the visa should not be cancelled.”

Asked to comment on the Apex gang member case, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton today said he remained determined to remove foreign born criminals from Australia.

“There is wide community support for the Turnbull Government’s tough policy against these law-breakers,” he told the Herald Sun.

CONTROVERSIAL TRIBUNAL MEMBERS SET TO GO

DEPORTATION FALLOUT SEES AXE FALL

“It’s more than time that the Australian community’s well being is put above that of criminals who constantly harm that community.”

The Apex gang member has lived in Australia since he was four and is the father of a three-year-old child who doesn’t live with him. He is separated from the child’s mother.

His family home is in a street which crosses over and intersects with Apex St in Dandenong.

Det-Supt De Santo told the AAT in July that:

THE notorious Apex gang was started by a group of youths who lived in Apex St.

IT grew into a larger group that committed serious crimes — including home invasions, armed robberies, ram raids, assaults and high speed pursuits.

VICTORIA Police has now incarcerated the main leaders and middle management of the Apex gang.

THE Apex gang as it was at the height of its offending in 2015 no longer exists.

WHILE the Apex gang has been dispersed, police still observe similar problems and offending.

THERE remains linked network offending by youths because as senior gang members are removed some of the gang middle management step up to leadership roles and some of the underlings step up to management roles.

[e-mail]