The federal government’s power to detain and deport refugees who commit crimes in Australia has been severely curtailed by a federal court ruling.
The government has been increasing its use of a strict character test to cancel or deny visas to thousands of non-citizens, including refugees, since the criteria was strengthened in 2014.
But in a judgement handed down on Christmas Eve as part of the case of a Tamil refugee held in detention for more than 10 years, Justice Steven Rares said the controversial character provisions in Section 501 of the Migration Act do not apply to refugees.
Human Rights for All director principal Alison Battison, who represented the Tamil refugee, says the finding is “incredibly significant” and could affect thousands of people.
"It basically says the department can't have two bites of the cherry (can't have a second chance if it fails the first) in rejecting someone on character grounds who's a recognised refugee. That's because the various provisions in the Migration Act are meant to reflect - and that was the parliamentary intent - to reflect those in the Refugee Convention, and at the moment they go far beyond that and exclude people from Australia's protection," said Ms Battison.
Under the section 501 character test, a visa holder who is sentenced to at least 12 months in jail automatically fails the character test and faces deportation.
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