Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last financial year alone the Australian government cancelled the visas of 580 foreign criminals and refused 135 visas for applicants with a criminal history. This was thanks to the December 2014 amendments to the Migration Act 1958 which made it mandatory that a visa be cancelled if a person does not pass the character test. The changes to the bill mean that if someone who is visiting Australia on a visa is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more they automatically fail the character test and it is cancelled. We have also strengthened the character test to include child sex offences, including child pornography, and we have lowered the threshold of evidence required to show that a person who is a member of a criminal group or terrorist organisation does not pass the character test.

This was an important bill for my electorate and communities all around Australia. It is about keeping our local communities safe. People who are Australian citizens are safe from criminal elements. We know what these criminals are capable of. Just this week we have seen the destruction of government property by criminals on Christmas Island. I want to stress that these criminals are not forcibly detained on Christmas Island, in the sense that they have the right to an appeals process, and they can go home straightaway, right now. I also want to confirm that nobody is jailed for 12 months for shoplifting or for speeding. As the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection has said, these people are in detention for serious crimes. The message is that if you are going to play up and you are not an Australian citizen then you will most likely be sent home.

In The Courier-Mail yesterday there was a good article which outlined some of what these people have been convicted of. It says:

The Courier-Mail can reveal today some of the members have serious criminal histories, have threatened to kill people, used weapons in their crimes and sold drugs on commercial scale.

One Facebook post the month before the stand-off said they were running amok on the island. I do not know how they get to use Facebook when they are in a detention centre. The minister also outlined that there are 27 people who have been convicted of assault, five people who have been convicted of child sex offences, four are there for drug offences, nine are there for grievous bodily harm, two are there for manslaughter—the list goes on and on—nine people for theft, robbery, break and enter. So I say to people living in my electorate and around this nation: if you are not an Australian citizen and you play up, you will be going home. (Time expired)

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