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‘Visa stress’: a sex offender’s fight against deportation · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, August eighteen, twenty twenty six. Air traffic controllers
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  Speaker 1: need unlimited sick leave because their job is so stressful.
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  Speaker 1: Even though Australia is the only country in the world
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  Speaker 1: where that is the deal. The boss of the controllers
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  Speaker 1: union says sick leave isn't the cause of repeated safety
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  Speaker 1: near misses. He blames staff shortages and an over reliance
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  Speaker 1: on overtime shifts. That's an exclusive by Robin Ironside Live
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. It's isis
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  Speaker 1: Brides all over again today the tale of a fifty
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  Speaker 1: year old child sex offender from Sierra Leone who says
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  Speaker 1: he bridging visa is making him so stressed he's a
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  Speaker 1: risk of further offending. It's visa stress and as immigration
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  Speaker 1: dominates the national conversation, our report up Paul Gave is
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  Speaker 1: here to explain why this is the most diabolical of
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  Speaker 1: policy problems. A fifty year old man, having lived in
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  Speaker 1: Australia for fifteen years, doesn't want to leave. He's from
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  Speaker 1: the West African country Sierra Leone. And he's gay. Returning
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  Speaker 1: to his homeland, where male to male sex is illegal
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  Speaker 1: could put him at risk of arrest. But the man,
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  Speaker 1: who can be known only as MFKF for legal reasons,
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  Speaker 1: is also a convicted criminal.
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  Speaker 2: There's been several offenses over several years. The first of
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  Speaker 2: those was in twenty twelve, so a year after he
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  Speaker 2: first arrived.
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  Speaker 3: In the country. He had been drinking.
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  Speaker 2: He came across a man in the street asked him
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  Speaker 2: to come to his hotel with him. After the man refused,
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  Speaker 2: he started to touch This man.
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  Speaker 1: Is a senior reporter with The Australian.
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  Speaker 2: He then a few hours later approached a sixteen year
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  Speaker 2: old boy who was waiting for a bus, introduced himself
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  Speaker 2: and again tried to get this boy back to his
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  Speaker 2: hotel room. After that advance was rejected, and approached another
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  Speaker 2: fifteen year old boy not long after and went through
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  Speaker 2: the same process. In that instance, this boy, who accorded
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  Speaker 2: to the court documents, was sort of in a vulnerable position,
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  Speaker 2: agreed to go back and at that point this man
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  Speaker 2: sexually assaulted him again. There were similar incidences in twenty
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  Speaker 2: fourteen similar sort of circumstances, and again in twenty eighteen,
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  Speaker 2: he was again before police.
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  Speaker 3: So there's this record.
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  Speaker 2: Of usually involving alcohol or other substances where MFKF has
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  Speaker 2: approached teenage boys and sexually assaulted them, which really is
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  Speaker 2: the uppermost of the level of seriousness, and that was
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  Speaker 2: really the critical thing that prompted the cancellation of his
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  Speaker 2: visa and has prompted all these subsequent legal batteries.
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  Speaker 1: MFKF has been in and out of court for several years.
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  Speaker 1: He applied for a protection visa due to the nature
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  Speaker 1: of his offending, but he was refused and was placed
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  Speaker 1: on a bridging visa instead. He was fighting the bridging
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  Speaker 1: visa in court as recently as last week. What have
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  Speaker 1: been his grounds for wanting to stay in Australia.
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  Speaker 2: His lawyers argued in this federal court case that the
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  Speaker 2: tribunal had not properly considered the aggravating risk that being
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  Speaker 2: on a bridging visa could have for this man, and
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  Speaker 2: that basically that more restrictive visa could increase the likelihood
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  Speaker 2: of him committing further offenses in the Australian community because
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  Speaker 2: there's no prospect of this man being deported back to
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  Speaker 2: Sierra Leone. He would be stuck here on a bridging
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  Speaker 2: visa until arrangements can be made to send him to
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  Speaker 2: Naruru or somewhere similar and him and through his various
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  Speaker 2: psychologists that record as witnesses as well, basically argued that
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  Speaker 2: the Core needed to consider that he would actually be
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  Speaker 2: at a higher risk of offending again if he was
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  Speaker 2: placed on that bridging visa that was found by the
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  Speaker 2: Federal Court to hold merit, and the Federal Court has
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  Speaker 2: decided to send it back to the Tribunal, stressing that
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  Speaker 2: they need to consider that factor when weighing up what
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  Speaker 2: to do with this man. So his argument has been
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  Speaker 2: that he cannot be removed back to Africa because of
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  Speaker 2: his homosexuality. That's the decisive factor that he's put forward
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  Speaker 2: to try to remain in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: And so even though he was denied a protection visa
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  Speaker 1: because of his criminal offending, he's saying that it would
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  Speaker 1: be untenable for Australia to send him back to somewhere
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  Speaker 1: where he would be persecuted.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: So he is also the subject of protection fighting and
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  Speaker 2: because of that he can't be removed from Australia back
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  Speaker 2: to his home country.
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  Speaker 1: This is diabolically complicated territory for governments. We saw the
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  Speaker 1: saga that you reported on very closely, Paul, where the
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  Speaker 1: government under Immigration Minister Andrew Giles had issued a direction
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  Speaker 1: to Tribunals Direction ninety nine, which instructed decision makers to
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  Speaker 1: consider an applicant's connection to Australia when deciding whether or
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  Speaker 1: not they could stay after criminal offending. That was being
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  Speaker 1: used to allow people to stay in Australia even though
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  Speaker 1: they had often quite serious criminal offending. Andrew Giles lost
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  Speaker 1: his job and that direction was overtaken by something else.
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  Speaker 1: Then there was a decision that you mentioned, ENZEDYQ in
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  Speaker 1: the High Court. What did that mean and how is
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  Speaker 1: this person's case connected to that?
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  Speaker 2: The enzed Yq decision was the first in what's turned
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  Speaker 2: into a series of landmark judgments from the High Court
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  Speaker 2: around this issue, which have caused all sorts of headaches
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  Speaker 2: for the government to try to address.
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  Speaker 3: The Government was scrambling today to deal with the fallout
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  Speaker 3: from the High Court's recent decision making indefinite immigration detention unlawful.
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  Speaker 1: In late twenty twenty three, the High Court ordered the
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  Speaker 1: Government to release a non citizen it had been hold
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  Speaker 1: in detention. He was from Myanmar, part of the Rohinja
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  Speaker 1: ethnic minority, and he'd been convicted of raping a ten
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  Speaker 1: year old boy here in Australia. The court ruled he
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  Speaker 1: couldn't be sent back to Myanmar because the Rowhinja risk
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  Speaker 1: persecution and he couldn't be held in indefinite detention. That
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  Speaker 1: decision also meant the government had to free dozens of
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  Speaker 1: other convicted criminals which it was unable to deport back
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  Speaker 1: to their countries of origin. It also triggered cases like
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  Speaker 1: the man from Sierra Leone.
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  Speaker 2: This really intense back and forth that's going on now
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  Speaker 2: at that level, and we've got hundreds of detainees with
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  Speaker 2: uncertain futures, most of them have committed some pretty heinous offenses.
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  Speaker 2: We've then got the public as well that is deeply
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  Speaker 2: concerned about this, and we've also got this broader political
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  Speaker 2: movement that is harper focused on immigration at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: So it's really just this absolutely fought, highly complex, very
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  Speaker 2: difficult situation for the government to try to work its
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  Speaker 2: way through.
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  Speaker 3: True.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really reminds me of the Isis Bride situation
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  Speaker 1: where the Kurds in northern Syria are running these refugee
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  Speaker 1: camps full of foreigners who don't have anywhere to go.
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  Speaker 1: They want countries like Australia to take their citizens back.
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  Speaker 1: The Australian government doesn't want them, but ultimately does take them,
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  Speaker 1: and then that becomes perfect forder for the Paul Enhansons
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  Speaker 1: of the world to say that we're soft on borders.
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  Speaker 1: I really am so furious about this because you know,
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  Speaker 1: if they can't answer their question with.
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  Speaker 2: I guess except in this instance, we're the curds here, right.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we're the country that has a whole bunch
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  Speaker 2: of people would rather not have inside Australia, and yet
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  Speaker 2: our options in terms of dealing with them seeing a
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  Speaker 2: lot more limited than perhaps we've seen for those isis Brides.
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  Speaker 1: Just coming back to this Sier early one man, what
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  Speaker 1: is it about the bridging visa that he says is problematic?
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  Speaker 2: So the bridging visa, it's almost like a permanent cloud
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  Speaker 2: over your head that the message may come through that
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  Speaker 2: you're on the plane to Nau, that there's this uncertainty
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  Speaker 2: that comes with that. Certainly it was first introduced. It
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  Speaker 2: also came in with lots of things like ankle bracelets
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  Speaker 2: and curfeuse and so on. But those sort of more
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  Speaker 2: punitive measures have been steadily dialed back off the back
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  Speaker 2: of high court decisions, but certainly in comparison with the
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  Speaker 2: protection visa, for example, that gives you a lot more
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  Speaker 2: certainty on your future, on your work prospects, on your
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  Speaker 2: ability just to move freely and unimpeded it without that
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  Speaker 2: stress and uncertainty hanging over your head. And it was
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  Speaker 2: that stress and uncertainty that was started by the psychologists
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  Speaker 2: in this case to make the argument that the community
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  Speaker 2: would be safer if he was actually on that protection
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  Speaker 2: visa because the stress of the bridging visa wouldn't drive
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  Speaker 2: him to go out and commit further offenses.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up? Is there a policy solution? You've been also
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  Speaker 1: reporting another case about someone who's been kind of stuck
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  Speaker 1: in limbo and put up in an effectively service department
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  Speaker 1: for a very long time. What was going on there?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So this was another interesting little one that popped
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  Speaker 2: out of this part of the world. So in this case,
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  Speaker 2: it was an Indian man, Raoul Sainey, whose attempts at
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  Speaker 2: getting a student visa had been rejected. There's none of
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  Speaker 2: the baggage around whether he'd be safe to be sent
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  Speaker 2: home or any impediments to his deportation that way. Beyond
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  Speaker 2: just these series of legal challenges against the various decisions,
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  Speaker 2: But what made his case stand out was he made
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  Speaker 2: an emergency application to the court trying to stop Border
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  Speaker 2: Force from taking him from Brisbane to the Melbourne detention Center.
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  Speaker 2: And we discovered that mister Sainney had for nine months
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  Speaker 2: been staying at a hotel in Brisbane. He had been
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  Speaker 2: confined to that hotel for nine months, but had resisted
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  Speaker 2: the idea of being moved to Melbourne because he argued
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  Speaker 2: it would take him away from his children who live
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  Speaker 2: in Brisbane and would present difficulties in him preparing for
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  Speaker 2: his legal cases. The man who's facing serious charges has
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  Speaker 2: been residing in the five star Meriton Suite since November.
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  Speaker 2: So the reason he was put into the hotel as
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  Speaker 2: opposed to the Brisbane Immigration Center is that he was
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  Speaker 2: assessed as being too high a security risk and that
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  Speaker 2: the hotel, somewhat oddly counterintuitively perhaps was considered a better
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  Speaker 2: option for a higher risk inmate or a detainee than
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  Speaker 2: the actual detention center itself. So it's prompted pretty natural
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  Speaker 2: questions from the opposition around how much this has cost
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  Speaker 2: taxpayers and just why if the Brisbane immigration detention facility
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  Speaker 2: isn't sufficient to cope with someone of that security rating,
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  Speaker 2: why security hasn't been upgraded to accommodate these sorts of prisoners.
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  Speaker 3: And it may also sort of come as.
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  Speaker 2: A bit of a surprise, I guess to other guests
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  Speaker 2: at the hotel to learn that this gentleman and perhaps
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  Speaker 2: dozens of others have been accommodator there.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, is there a policy solution here
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  Speaker 1: for either of these kinds of situations.
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  Speaker 2: Well, on the first matter we spoke of, the Sierra
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  Speaker 2: Leone matter, the obvious question for the government is whether
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  Speaker 2: they can introduce some sort of legislation to close this
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  Speaker 2: potential visa stress loophole, if you can call it that,
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  Speaker 2: that they need to actually put in place something that
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  Speaker 2: would compel the tribunal and the courts to ignore the
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  Speaker 2: prospect of visa stress when weighing up how these sorts
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  Speaker 2: of individuals should be processed through the system. On the
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  Speaker 2: hotel matter, it seems like the obvious thing to do
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  Speaker 2: would be to upgrade the security measures to cope with
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  Speaker 2: these sorts of higher risk detainees. We haven't got a
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  Speaker 2: proper explanation yet from Home Affairs as to why that
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  Speaker 2: hasn't happened, or if there's anything afoot to actually take
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  Speaker 2: those sorts of steps.
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  Speaker 1: You look at a lot of decisions from tribunals and
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  Speaker 1: from courts about detainees or people who are seeking to
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  Speaker 1: avoid deportation. Is visa stress the thing that you're seeing
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  Speaker 1: more often.
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  Speaker 3: Look, this is quite a new one to me.
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  Speaker 2: It was quite novel when I saw this, and the
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  Speaker 2: obvious conclusion from that is we're going to see a
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  Speaker 2: lot more of it. You would think if this decision stands,
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  Speaker 2: that really anyone placed on a bridging visa would be
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  Speaker 2: able to argue that there's a higher level of stress
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  Speaker 2: associated with being on that visa, and that level of
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  Speaker 2: stress could heighten the likelihood of committing further offenses. The
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  Speaker 2: potential loophole here is that potentially you'll have detainees prepared
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  Speaker 2: to argue that safety the community is.
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  Speaker 3: Actually jeopardized by them being on a bridging.
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  Speaker 2: Visa, which really has been designed to try to protect
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  Speaker 2: the community. So it's almost a catch for me too
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  Speaker 2: in that sort of way.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm stressed by my uncertain visa situation. That
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  Speaker 1: means I'm at a higher risk of offending than if
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  Speaker 1: I was settled here, if I had the safety and
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  Speaker 1: security of a proper visa and a job so.
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  Speaker 2: On correct and knowing that I wouldn't be reporter at
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  Speaker 2: anytime soon. And that's why this really is potentially going
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  Speaker 2: to be the next major headache in a part of
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  Speaker 2: the world that's already causing many headaches for the government.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Paul, that's a very complex case. We haven't caused
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: you too much reporter stress by having to explain it,
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  Speaker 1: but you've done a great job, so thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Ys Claire.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Garvey is a senior reporter with The Australian. You
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: can check out all his scoops anytime at the Australian
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: dot com dot au