The BFD | It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Australia’s foreign criminals debacle just gets more mind-boggling by the day. As The BFD has been reporting, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles — a former boat-chasing “refugees” lawyer — issued Direction 99, which orders the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to give priority to allowing foreign-born criminals facing deportation to stay in Australia.

That has resulted in a grim parade of rapists, paedophiles, and murderers being set loose to prey on Australians. As they have, in the worst possible ways: assault, robbery, murder, child abuse, rape… these are just some of the crimes committed by the beneficiaries of Giles’ Direction 99.

Now, there’s this jaw-dropper.

A remorseless serial rapist who attacked 25 women and a child kept his visa as a result of Andrew Giles’s catastrophic push to give more leniency to foreign-born criminals with ties to Australia, as it was revealed the embattled Immigration Minister was warned his policy would lead to a huge rise in offenders successfully beating deportation.

The Australian can reveal a man who had “some of the worst child abuse material in the world”, a rapist who molested four children and a criminal who laundered more than $5m also kept their visas as a by-product of Mr Giles’s Direction 99 […]

In a new case uncovered by The Australian, British-born masseur and rapist Charles William Davidson in February had the cancellation of his visa revoked despite having been convicted of eight counts of rape, 48 counts of sexual assault, and three counts of indecent treatment of children under 16.

The sentencing judge said the serial rapist had demonstrated “absolutely no remorse whatsoever”.

In fact, he was paroled early, precisely because the trial judge believed that he would be deported on release.

As for Giles’s protestations that he’s onto the problem:

The Australian understands Mr Giles has used his powers in recent days to overrule the AAT on at least one case – alleged killer and domestic violence perpetrator Emmanuel Saki – and is preparing to overturn dozens of other cancelled deportations. But Mr Giles is refusing to rescind his controversial visa policy despite his urgent review of failed deportations, as he blamed the AAT and his department for the growing number of criminals successfully challenging their visa cancellations off the back of Direction 99.

The blame-shifting is particularly odious on Giles’s part, as multiple AAT members have stated that it was Giles’s Direction 99 which influenced their decisions.

The Australian has identified another rapist who were allowed to remain in Australia after the tribunal cited Mr Giles’s Direction 99 guidance, as well as a case involving a man who was convicted over his possession of an enormous cache of child pornography including multiple copies of “the most notorious child abuse video ever produced”.

The deportation of a Chilean citizen who had sexually molested three of his wife’s nieces and the child of a friend was stopped after the AAT again cited the strength of the man’s ties to Australia.

The Australian

It’s becoming clear that Giles’s whole department is dysfunctional. Department heads are only finding out the Direction 99 horrorshow from the media.

The head of the Department of Home Affairs Stephanie Foster only learned that a repeat rapist earmarked for deportation had been spared after a news story on the latest immigration debacle was read to her in the middle of a senate estimates hearing.

In extraordinary scenes inside the federal parliament on Tuesday night, Ms Foster and the government’s representative, Senator Murray Watt, were left scrambling as Liberal Senator James Paterson informed them of the details surrounding the case of British-born masseur and rapist Charles William Davidson, who had his visa reinstated despite being convicted of sexually attacking 26 women.

The Australian

Perhaps most astonishing of all is the chutzpah of the minister who claimed that he was working in womens’ interests.

Documents released under Freedom of Information on Tuesday night showed that Mr Giles and the Department of Home Affairs chose March 8, 2023 as the start date for Direction 99 to coincide with International Women’s Day and the lead-up to Harmony Week.

“Issuance of the Ministerial Direction during this time would send a strong message to the community regarding the Government’s commitment to combat family violence and protect women, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities,” the correspondence from Home Affairs to Mr Giles, dated 8 September 2022, read.

The Australian

Well, it’s sent a message, all right.