Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

This is quite a simple bill that's very focused on one issue in particular, and that is that there was a court decision handed down just before Christmas which effectively overturned what had been understood to be the law in Australia on one point related to the power of the minister of the day to cancel the visa of someone who had failed the character test because they had a substantial criminal record. What the Australian law had always been understood to be—and, being the representing minister, I'm giving you the best information as I understand it, and someone will tell me if I get this wrong—was that, if someone had been convicted of a number of offences and had an overall sentence or an aggregate sentence of more than 12 months, they could have their visa cancelled. The decision that the court handed down just before Christmas basically said that the person had to have a conviction for one offence that led to a sentence of more than 12 months for that offence, and then they can have their visa cancelled. But, for instance, if someone were convicted of two different offences that had a combined sentence of more than 12 months, they couldn't have their visa cancelled. That was different from what the Australian law had always been understood to be, whether it be a coalition government or a Labor government, so what we're seeking to do through this bill is to clarify that point so that, if there's a particular person who has been convicted of a number of offences where the total sentences are more than 12 months, they could have their visa cancelled. That's what this bill is about. It is not about granting someone citizenship. It's actually about giving ministers power to, effectively, deport people rather than keep them in the country.