Scott Morrison seeks faster exit for foreign criminals

Thousands of foreign-born criminals convicted of stalking, domestic violence, date rape, police assault, child abuse and other serious offences will have their deportations fast-tracked.

Scott Morrison says foreign criminals who commit serious offences do not belong in Australia. Picture: Gary Ramage

Thousands of foreign-born criminals convicted of stalking, domestic violence, date rape, police assault, child abuse and other serious offences will have their deportations fast-tracked, under a Morrison government crackdown removing legal loopholes that have allowed them to stay in Australia.

Scott Morrison will open up a new election fight with Anthony Albanese on Wednesday when he pushes legislation through the parliament to strengthen the character test, which has been used to cancel or refuse the visas of more than 10,000 foreign criminals since 2014.

The Australian understands the legislative changes will allow the federal government to expel serious offenders from the ­country at twice the pace, with about 10,000 visa-holders expected to be captured under the tougher regime.

The government’s bill, which was blocked by Labor and the Greens in parliament last October, will shift the character test to more objective grounds, broaden the circumstances in which visas are cancelled and reduce the chances of decisions being overturned on appeal.

Under existing law, a foreign criminal convicted of a serious ­offence punishable by at least two years’ imprisonment can avoid deportation if they receive a lesser sentence in the courts.

The bill, which is backed by the Police Federation of Australia and victims of crime, would allow the government to deport serious offenders even if they receive less than a one-year imprisonment. In response to judges factoring in ­existing loopholes in sentencing, the bill would ensure the character test is no longer applied to a sentence but what the maximum penalty would be.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Anthony Albanese during Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Since the character test under section 501 of the Migration Act was introduced, thousands of drug dealers, sex offenders, ­domestic abusers, murderers and bikies have been kicked out of the country.

Mr Morrison, who used question time on Monday to ramp up Coalition attacks on Labor over national security, said foreign criminals who committed serious offences did not belong in Australia. “The safety of Australians across the country relies on Labor standing up to the Greens, and giving our border force the powers they need to deport foreign criminals,” he said.

“Any suggestions that the sorts of crimes being committed are ‘trivial’ are ridiculous – these are very serious crimes committed by foreign criminals who do not belong in Australia.”

The Prime Minister urged Mr Albanese to support him in “kicking criminals out of Australia” and to “get off the fence” and back the legislation.

“The message to Labor is clear: get on board today, say no to the Greens and help the parliament pass these important laws – Australia’s national interest demands it,” Mr Morrison said.

In a letter to Immigration Minister Alex Hawke on October 12 last year, opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally warned that a person could be convicted of a designated offence with conduct so “trivial” that it could not reasonably support a suspicion that the person was not of good character.

Speaking on the bill in 2019, opposition assistant immigration spokesman Andrew Giles described the bill as “unnecessary and divisive legislation”, while Labor MP Julian Hill said the bill’s only purpose was to “wedge Labor” and that the punishment did not match the crime.

The government will use the migration bill to wedge Labor and the Greens on the deportation of serious offenders, which has caused friction with the New Zealand government and other South Pacific countries in recent years.

Mr Hawke said “it should not be easier to deport an international sports star than a convicted criminal”, invoking the recent ejection of tennis star Novak Djokovic from Australia. “On the character bill, like so many issues, Anthony Albanese is having a bet each way. In fact, he has had so many positions he’s having a multi-bet,” he said. “By blocking the deportation of domestic violence offenders, Anthony Albanese fails the character test on women’s security.”

Mr Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton have ­escalated Coalition attacks on Mr Albanese and Labor frontbenchers in the past week over a range of national security issues, including standing up to China, protecting maritime borders and being soft on crime.

Speaking in question time on Monday, Mr Morrison said it was not a “time for appeasement and the trading away of Australian values in search of appeasement”, and countries must stand up to Russia and China.

Mr Dutton was reprimanded by Speaker of the House Andrew Wallace on Monday after claiming in parliament last week that Beijing was backing Labor to win the election following a speech from ASIO director-general Mike Burgess.

Mr Burgess said a wealthy “puppeteer” with foreign government links had tried to bankroll vulnerable political candidates in a bid to get sympathetic MPs elected to parliament.

“We now see evidence that the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government has also made a decision about who they will back in the next federal election, and that is open and obvious,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Albanese warned that national security was “too important to play political games with”.

A day earlier, he said the nation was witnessing “an attempt to misuse the issue of national ­security.”

“What I can say is that I spoke to the director-general of ASIO on Friday and reaffirmed the fact that they had no issues, no issues, with any of the candidates that we’re taking to the election,” the Opposition Leader said.

Labor deputy leader Richard Marles said the Coalition was the “worst national security government in our history”.

“When you actually run a ruler over what this government have done in the last nine years, they have been singularly hopeless, and they have made our country less safe as a result,” Mr Marles said. “So, it is unbelievably ironic that we should be hearing these claims from this completely hopeless government when it comes to national security.”

The federal government will also seek to progress the second tranche of critical infrastructure legislation this week, aimed at protecting Australian businesses and governments from surging cyber security threats.