Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, I want to take you to the amendments which this bill proposes to subsection 5C(1) on page 4 of the amendment bill. They provide that the minister is able to deny a visa on the basis of a foreign court convicting a noncitizen of certain things. Did the government consider Australia's international human rights obligations, which require Australia not to be complicit in trials that do not comply with accepted fair trial principles? I do not see an exemption in here for a foreign court. You and I and all senators know that there are some so-called legal proceedings in some countries around the world which fail the basic tests of natural justice. If someone is convicted, in effect, by a kangaroo court in a foreign jurisdiction, is the minister able to exercise discretion and ensure that that conviction, if it has been arrived at outside the principles of natural justice, does not automatically mean that a visa is cancelled—so, in fact, the minister has the discretion to ignore such a conviction?