Mokbel’s man spared deportation yet again in detainee blame game

A convicted kidnapper who worked with gangland boss Tony Mokbel has been saved from deportation by a tribunal decision on Monday to restore his visa, sparking a fight in federal parliament over who is to blame for his reprieve.

The decision is a victory for Kevin Farrugia, who was born in Malta and has a string of criminal convictions in Australia dating back to 2005, when the federal government sent him a warning but chose not to cancel his visa.

A court sketch of Kevin Farrugia when he faced a magistrate in 2004.Credit: Matt Davidson

The Coalition cited the case to pile more pressure on Immigration Minister Andrew Giles over dozens of tribunal decisions to let convicted criminals stay in Australia, blaming him for being too lenient under a rule known as ministerial direction 99.

But the government hit back by saying Opposition Leader Peter Dutton could have acted when he was home affairs minister in the previous government and cancelled the man’s visa in 2019, when Farrugia made headlines for gun crimes and his ties to Mokbel.

Giles is considering the case and has the power to overturn the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision and cancel Farrugia’s visa, which would mean transferring him to immigration detention when he finishes his time in prison for his most recent offence.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan challenged Giles over the matter in question time on Tuesday by asking when the minister would cancel the criminal’s visa, while Dutton called a press conference soon afterwards to attack the government and call for Giles to be sacked.

When Dutton was asked why he had not cancelled the man’s visa when he had the chance, he said he would consider the details of the case.

“I cancelled 6300 visas and obviously looked at more than that, so I’m very happy to look at the detail,” he said.

Giles said Dutton had failed when he was minister.

“If Peter Dutton had been held to the same standard he now holds others, he would not have lasted a week in the home affairs and immigration portfolios,” Giles said.

The facts were disclosed on Monday when the tribunal ruled that Farrugia should have his visa restored. This overturned a department decision to confirm the mandatory cancellation of his visa because of his crimes. A government-appointed lawyer argued at the tribunal to keep the department decision in place.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Tuesday with assistant defence spokesman Phillip Thompson (left) and defence spokesman Andrew Hastie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The tribunal decision showed that Farrugia was in the community from 2019 to 2023 despite his earlier criminal convictions, a key point when the government could have cancelled his visa. Federal officials sent him two warnings about his visa in earlier years: in 2005, when the Coalition was in government, and 2011, when Labor was in power.

Farrugia came to Australia at the age of 17 months and committed his first offence when he was aged 20, leading to more than 40 convictions over time. He was convicted of kidnapping and endangering life in 2003, trafficking pseudoephedrine in 2008 and assault in 2009.

While in Port Phillip Prison in 2004, he was found guilty of hiding a fully loaded pistol in a sock in his jail cell but received a suspended sentence after being represented by defence lawyer Nicola Gobbo.

Kevin Farrugia was an associate of Melbourne gangster Tony Mokbel, pictured at the Melbourne Supreme Court in 2012.Credit: Jason South

Now labelled the “turncoat lawyer” who helped Victorian prosecutors investigate gangland crimes, Gobbo was named in court in February this year when Mokbel, who was appealing his convictions for drug trafficking, said she told him to flee the country during a peak in underworld infighting two decades ago.

Farrugia was convicted several times of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, including the offence that resulted in him being sentenced to 19 months in custody in May last year.

Unlike other convicted criminals at the centre of the political dispute over immigration detention, he is not at large in the community.

The tribunal decided to restore his visa after citing ministerial direction 99, which was signed by Giles early last year and sets out five “primary” considerations, including the protection of the community and ties to Australia.

The tribunal ruled that Farrugia’s connections to Australia, especially the interests of his teenage daughter, were strong reasons to allow him to stay in the country.

Dutton and Tehan have stepped up their calls for Giles to resign after a fortnight of media reports about tribunal decisions letting convicted criminals stay in Australia under ministerial direction 99, but the government has claimed that similar decisions were made during the Coalition government.

In one case mentioned in question time on Monday, the tribunal overturned a department decision to deport a man born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and guilty of a series of crimes in Australia.

The tribunal said in February 2019 he should be allowed to keep his visa because his three children needed him, despite his convictions in Queensland courts for assault, trespass and unlawful carnal knowledge of a 14-year-old girl.

The man returned to the community and the government chose not to overturn the tribunal decision. Dutton was home affairs minister at the time.

The man, now 30, was charged last year with assaulting and torturing his three children in attacks that left his youngest son in a coma. He was denied bail and cannot be named.

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