"The Prime Minister has ordered Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to cancel the permanent protection visa of security guard Mohammed Hassan Al Bayati..."
A mandatory cancellation should be an automatic process, not sure why the PM would need to order Dutton to apply the law?Section 501 of the Migration Act 1958 lists a variety of reasons why someone may not pass the character test. Subsection(6) of section 501 has the full list of reasons, but examples include:
- because the person has a substantial criminal record
- because the person may represent a danger to the Australian community
- because the Minister is satisfied the person is not of good character due to their past and present criminal or general conduct.
A person whose visa has been refused or cancelled by a delegate under section 501 can apply to the AAT to have this decision changed.
Section 501(3A) states that a visa must be cancelled when the visa holder has been sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment, or has been found guilty of a sexually based crime involving a child. The visa holder must also be serving a full-time custodial sentence. This is called a mandatory cancellation.
The character test explained
