Immigration minister Andrew Giles announced in the first week of June that聽.
Like most recent immigration ministers, he鈥檚 starting to look a little jaundiced due to the inhumanity the position requires.
The only one who seems to have flourished in the job is Scott Morrison.
He was not only the architect of Operation Sovereign Borders, but he initiated 鈥渞eforms鈥 in late 2014 that led to the聽.
When Giles assumed the office, the Coalition had just聽, including close to 3000 New Zealand-born residents.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had promised New Zealand聽听辫濒补苍.
But Giles has now reversed last year鈥檚 reforms, under pressure from the Coalition which ran campaign saying they were 鈥渢oo lenient鈥 on long-term residents and non-citizens. The charge of leniency came after their ties to the country were taken into consideration.
Some cancelled visas, however, have been restored.
Giles signed Direction 110 on June 7.聽 inform departmental officials, under聽section 499 of the Migration Act 1958, on what they have to do.
鈥淪ince coming to office, the government has refused and cancelled a large number of visas on character grounds in the interests of community safety,鈥 Giles said. He added that he had cancelled 40 visas 鈥渋n the national interest鈥.
The problem, he said, is that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) is making decisions not to deport residents.
Direction 110 relates to聽聽of the Migration Act, which contains a character test that results in the automatic deportation of non-citizens if they are sentenced to 12 months or more in prison.
But the prison time does not have to be all at once: multiple terms can trigger deportation as can suspended sentences and time in rehabilitation.
Former immigration minister Scott Morrison鈥檚聽聽dropped the pre-existing 24-month limit to 12.
The United Nations had already ruled in 2011 that the pre-reform version was in breach of聽.
Deporting New Zealanders
One effect of Morrison鈥檚 law, which was retrospective, was that聽聽were turfed out.
These people had spent almost their entire lives in Australia, yet they were deported. The government didn鈥檛 warn Wellington either: deportees just started arriving.
Since Morrison鈥檚 law kicked in, New Zealand-born people who had never featured in the top 10 nations represented in Australia鈥檚 onshore immigration centre figures, had by 2016 become the largest cohort in detention. Still today, NZ-born people 聽in detention centres.
The mass deportation of New Zealanders from Australia devastated their communities; families were torn apart.
Aotearoa had to set up a support system to deal with the large numbers of suddenly appearing without a home to go to.
Then PM Jacinda Ardern raised the issue of Australia exporting its criminals repeatedly with Morrison, who just shrugged.
When Albanese became PM, he said he would be more compassionate.
Primary concerns
聽was signed by former Coalition immigration minister Andrew Hawke, in March 2021. It replaced the 2018聽.
And in terms of changes, it added an extra primary consideration when deciding whether or not to throw a resident out of the country.
The three considerations already required in Direction 79 were: 鈥減rotection of the Australian community from criminal or other serious misconduct鈥; 鈥渢he best interests of minor children in Australia鈥; and 鈥渆xpectations of the Australian community鈥.
Hawke鈥檚 Direction 90 added a further consideration 鈥 鈥渨hether the conduct engaged in constituted family violence鈥. It was聽put at number two in the list.
Last year鈥檚 Direction 99 added a fifth consideration, at third place on the list, which was 鈥渢he strength, nature and duration of ties to Australia鈥.
This last stipulation has always been problematic, as it means that people who have been living here for their entire lives, beside birth, can be thrown out. This has particularly affected the NZ-born.
Direction 110 was issued after the Liberals鈥 campaign that community safety was allegedly at risk because the AAT had granted people permission to stay in Australia because of their strong links to the nation.
Issuing same direction
鈥淢inisterial Direction 110 is guided by two key principles: the protection of the Australian community and commonsense,鈥 Giles said. The 鈥渟afety of the Australian community is the government鈥檚 highest priority鈥, he added.
However, Direction 110 contains the same five priority considerations as its predecessor.
鈥淧rotection of the Australian community鈥 remains the number one consideration, as it has been since 2018. In fact, the order of priorities is the same as Direction 99.
Even the controversial consideration of 鈥渟trength, nature and duration of ties to Australia鈥, the provision that has allegedly led to Australia becoming less safe over the past year, remains fourth on the list of primary considerations.
Giles said that the his new direction serves to elevate 鈥渢he impact on victims of family violence and their families into one of the existing primary considerations, reflecting the government鈥檚 zero-tolerance approach to family and聽鈥.
It appears that Giles鈥 new direction will likely have no real impact on the number of deportations after June 21, when it takes effect.
But Giles did succeed in recasting himself and Labor as being 鈥渢ough鈥 on non-citizens.
[Paul Gregoire writes for , where this article was first published.]