Labor cancels visas of 20 foreign criminals in Direction 99 fallout

The number of visas re-cancelled by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has more than doubled as the embattled frontbencher faces attack from the Coalition.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

The number of visas re-cancelled by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles more than doubled to 20 at the weekend, as he faces a new attack from the Coalition over his claims that drones are being used to monitor foreign criminals.

As senior Labor figures deny the government made “a mistake” in implementing Direction 99 under pressure from New Zealand last year, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan demanded the government reveal whether it was indeed flying drones near schools to track foreign-born criminals and prevent them coming into contact with children.

“The Albanese Labor government needs to come clean: are they now saying that drones are flying over schools?” Mr Tehan said.

“If this is the case, which schools? And have the parents of schoolchildren who attend these schools been notified? Once again this sounds like fantasy land to defend the indefensible, which is the sheer incompetence of Andrew Giles.”

Mr Tehan’s comments follow Australian Federal Police officials saying they were not aware of drone programs being used to track foreign criminals, as Mr Giles claimed last week.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Mr Giles needed to be clear on whether he had disclosed a top secret drone program that the AFP were not able to talk about or had made up the claim.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt confirmed on Sunday that the government was using drones to photograph the residences of detainees released after the High Court’s NZYQ decision.

“My understanding is that drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense of monitoring the accommodation people are living in, for example, ensuring it’s not too close to schools,” he said.

Senator Watt also said the government had not made a mistake in implementing Direction 99 – which requires the AAT to consider an individual’s community ties when reviewing deportation appeals – and that the AAT was to blame for the unintended consequences of the policy. “They interpreted it in a way it was never intended by the government, and that’s why we’re now taking action to fix it,” he told Sky News.

“What (Direction 99) aimed to do was to recognise the difficult situation where some people involved have been in Australia for a long time – in some cases since they were a toddler or a baby – but that doesn’t mean that we intended for community safety to be relegated below that as a priority.”

Within days of revoking Direction 99, Mr Giles had re-cancelled the visas of eight foreign criminals who had originally been allowed to stay thanks to the AAT’s decision. There is still no clarity on when a new Direction will be put in place.

As the Coalition is expected to maintain its pressure on Anthony Albanese and his role in the debacle during parliament this week, new figures show public support for Labor’s handling of border protection and immigration has fallen four points in the past three months on the index of JWS Research and nine points in the past 12 months.

According to JWS Research polling of 1000 people last week, 24 per cent of those polled thought immigration and border protection was a major issue, up from 15 per cent in June 2023, pushing the issue into the top five.

The debacle in the immigration portfolio has prompted questions over whether the Prime Minister will reshuffle his cabinet, but senior government figures said the challenge faced by Labor leader was that “no one wants the job” of immigration minister.

Several frontbenchers pointed to Matt Keogh as a potential replacement for Mr Giles, given his success in “cleaning up” backlogs in the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio.

Another senior government source said there was a good chance things could “get even harder” for the Immigration Minister, which was a disincentive for anyone new to step into the role.