Latest news with #TonyBurke
News.com.au
11 hours ago
- Health
- News.com.au
‘Life-changing': Sydney couple saved from medical deportation
A Sydney couple facing deportation because of a medical diagnosis have received an 11th-hour reprieve. Rob O'Leary and Jessica Mathers were on track to be sent back to Britain following Ms Mathers' multiple sclerosis diagnosis despite having arrived in Australia in 2017. However, Immigration Minister Tony Burke has allowed the couple to stay. 'We are proud to announce we are Australia's newest permanent residents!' the couple posted online Thursday. 'This morning, we received the life-changing news we've been hoping for – our visa has been granted!' 'There are so many things we've put on hold – just in case we had to leave. But now, with this door wide open, we feel more focused and excited than ever to build our future in the country we love.' Their families are already planning a celebratory visit. 'Here's to new beginnings, big dreams, and a bright future ahead.' The pair documented their situation via an online petition. They had applied for permanent residency; however, Ms Mathers was diagnosed with MS in Sydney in 2020. 'Our PR application was rejected based on perceived future healthcare costs due to Jessica's condition,' Mr O'Leary said. Ms Mathers was treated under the reciprocal healthcare scheme Australia shares with 11 countries, and MRIs showed her condition had not progressed since the diagnosis. 'Jessica built her life here well before her diagnosis,' Mr O'Leary said. 'To now be told she has to leave because of her condition feels discriminatory. It's as if all of her contributions are suddenly irrelevant because of a health condition that is being successfully managed.' Mr O'Leary owns a crane and carpentry business, and Ms Mathers works in marketing and has received recognition for her musical contributions to the Bondi creative scene. They unsuccessfully challenged their rejected permanent residency bid at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 2023. The defeated tribunal appeal was then escalated to the Immigration Minister. 'We were over the moon to hear from our local MP, Allegra Spender, who has been incredibly supportive throughout our journey,' the couple posted on Thursday. 'She shared that the Minister for Immigration, Tony Burke, personally contacted her to confirm the decision. 'This marks the end of a nearly four-year-long, emotional road – and the beginning of an exciting new chapter. 'Rob has proudly called Australia home for nearly 10 years, and Jess for eight. We're so grateful that our contributions have been recognised, and that we can finally move forward with clarity and security.'
ABC News
2 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Queensland minister calls on federal government to crackdown on illegal tobacco trade
Queensland's health minister has called on the federal government to tighten laws after revelations about how largely unregulated private ATMs are helping fuel illegal tobacco sales. An ABC investigation on Wednesday detailed how private ATMs — including those from a company whose major backer is prestigious investment bank Macquarie Group — were being installed in stores selling black-market tobacco. Private ATM companies have even signed deals with people charged and later convicted with tobacco offences. Some stores were prompting customers by either only accepting hard currency or offering hefty discounts for tobacco bought with cash. AUSTRAC, the nation's money laundering watchdog, told the ABC that private ATMs were a "target for criminals" and were not regulated under anti-money laundering laws, meaning a "reduced visibility for AUSTRAC and law enforcement". Those laws are a federal responsibility, but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's office said it did not have "anything to add at this stage". The shadow federal attorney-general, Julian Leeser, acknowledged AUSTRAC had flagged private ATMs as a risk for cash-intensive businesses in a 2024 money-laundering report. He said any regulatory changes to anti-money laundering laws that impacted private ATMs would "need to be the subject of rigorous cost-benefit analysis and careful consultation with industry". In Queensland, the health department has a role in disrupting the illicit tobacco trade, including temporarily shutting down stores in breach of tobacco laws. "The Commonwealth government should be pulling every appropriate lever to stop this criminal trade and prevent these illicit products from getting into the country in the first place," Health Minister Tim Nicholls told the ABC. "Reports of the lengths that these black-market operators are going to in laundering their money is disturbing. It highlights the need for swift regulatory and enforcement action to close loopholes and deprive these operators of their cash and ability to generate profits." The illicit tobacco trade has boomed as increasing taxes and duties have been laid on cigarettes federally. The current excise or customs duty on a 20-cigarette packet is $28.06, and GST comes on top of that. But cigarettes, without required health warnings, are being sold openly in some Queensland stores for $8 a packet. Mr Nicholls said Queensland had taken steps to increase pressure on the trade, including by introducing the nation's "harshest" fines and consulting on laws. That includes floating the possibility of legislation targeting landlords who knowingly lease premises to illicit tobacco sellers, with the potential penalty being a year in jail or $161,300 fine, or both. "Queensland is effectively at the 'end of the conveyor belt' of this problem, taking enforcement action against illicit goods smuggled into the country." The state's Crime and Corruption Commission has also launched proceeds of crime action potentially targeting more than $6 million in assets in one case against an accused illicit tobacco seller. The private ATM company backed by Macquarie Group is called Next Payments. It said it fully cooperates with authorities to proactively flag suspicious behaviour and rejects any suggestion its machines could fuel money laundering.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Hastie warns government cannot afford to wait for NZYQ group to be deported, after alleged 'critical' assault
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie warns the government cannot afford to wait for the outcome of a test case addressing the NZYQ cohort, after one former detainee allegedly critically injured another man in Melbourne. A 43-year-old former detainee released after the 'NZYQ' High Court ruling was charged on Sunday over an alleged serious assault of a 62-year-old man, who was taken to hospital with critical injuries. Mr Hastie says the Coalition supported the government to create powers that would allow people released from immigration detention to be re-detained, but the government is yet to make a single application. "The reason why the parliament rushed through these preventative detention powers 18 months ago was to prevent exactly this sort of scenario, where an innocent person is [allegedly] harmed by a member of this cohort," he said. "The question is: What is Tony Burke doing? Why didn't he exercise the preventative detention powers given to him by the parliament, and why is he being so passive in protecting the Australian community?" Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement yesterday separate powers that would see the NZYQ cohort deported were being tested in the High Court. "The courts are setting the precedents right now on our laws," Mr Burke said in a statement. "The government's principle is clear, if your visa is cancelled you should leave immediately." The High Court heard a challenge yesterday by one of three former detainees who the government is seeking to deport to Nauru, in what is being seen as a test case for whether more of the group can be deported. Another two appeals are before the federal court. Even if the government succeeds against those challenges it would then have to negotiate the deportation of hundreds more people, many with serious criminal histories, to be accepted by another country. Mr Hastie told the ABC the government could not afford to wait for that. "We can't afford to wait, because we have just seen another innocent person [allegedly] brutally bashed by someone from the NZYQ cohort," he said. "Tony Burke needs to explain to the Australian people why there hasn't been a single application made ... if they can't deport them they need to exercise the powers the parliament vested in the minister to prevent this from happening." The alleged Footscray assault is the second known allegation of a serious attack by a released detainee, after a former detainee was charged over a home invasion and burglary where an couple in their 70s were assaulted. In that case, the man had been released from their ankle monitoring conditions, a decision Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the time labelled a "mistake" by the Community Protection Board. As at May 31, 85 of the 335 people on NZYQ-related bridging visas were subject to electronic monitoring and 46 were subject to a curfew, with the majority subject to no monitoring conditions. The alleged assault has again brought the cohort of more than 300 released detainees who remain on bridging visas back into the spotlight. The federal government has made several attempts to address safety concerns surrounding the 'NZYQ' cohort after a shock decision by the High Court in November 2023 to overturn a 20-year precedent that allowed the group to be indefinitely detained. The court ruled that detention was unlawful because there was no prospect of the detainees being resettled, and that while many had committed serious offences, their time had been served and ongoing detention was an unlawful punishment. Since then, the government has rushed multiple tranches of legislation through parliament gaining powers to impose strict conditions on the cohort and potentially re-detain them as a preventative measure — though the government has yet to file any applications to re-detain them. And last year, the High Court again ruled legislation relating to the cohort was unlawful, throwing out the government's laws allowing it to impose ankle monitors and curfews to be imposed on the NZYQ group, resulting in a number of charges for breaching those laws being dropped. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke reintroduced rewritten monitoring rules the next day to reinstate curfews and ankle monitors, but those who were facing charges were not re-prosecuted. Alongside that rewrite was a new tranche of legislation, this time allowing the government to cancel NZYQ-related visas and therefore immediately re-detain them if another country had accepted their deportation — as well as allowing the government to pay another country to receive the cohort. Mr Burke in February announced Nauru had accepted three of the NZYQ cohort, in a test case of the new laws. The Home Affairs minister warned detainees the government was focused on ensuring community safety.
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
How another Labor immigration blunder has allowed a vile child sex offender to remain in Australia
The Albanese government took too long to scrap the visa of a migrant who performed an indecent act in front of a child, so he can stay in Australia, a court has ruled. The Federal Court decision is the latest in a string of immigration policy blunders to weigh on the party since 2023 - causing ex-Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be demoted - though it seems it didn't harm Labor's performance at the March election. Federal Court judge Christopher Horan found a decision to deport the man, known as XMBQ, was unlawful because there was an 'unreasonable' delay between the appeals tribunal deciding the man could stay and termination of his visa. The ruling, first reported by The Australian, could set a precedent requiring immigration ministers to make decisions within a particular timeframe. Giles - now replaced by Tony Burke - previously came under fire for being caught off guard by the High Court's ruling in November 2023 that indefinite immigration detention was illegal, resulting in the release of more than a hundred criminals. Later, he was criticised over his Ministerial guideline, known as Direction 99, that stated a migrant's family connections to Australia and how long they have lived here should be considered in potential deportation cases, despite a criminal's rap sheet. Giles moved to cancel dozens of visas after it emerged that violent offenders were using the measure to avoid deportation. In the latest case XMBQ, a Somali man, had convictions for kicking a police officer in the face and performing a sex act in front of a 29-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl on public transport. Lawyers for XMBQ challenged whether the former Immigration Minister's intervention in his case was legal. Giles cancelled the Somali man's visa on June 8, 2024 after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decided he should be allowed to stay in April 2021. Justice Horan said the delay between the appeal and Giles's decision was far too long, ruling in the favour of XMBQ. 'If the minister is to exercise the power to set aside the original decision and cancel the visa, the minister must do so within a reasonable time,' the judgment said. 'Otherwise, the connection with the original decision as the object of the power will be lost, and it can no longer be said that the minister is addressing or responding to the state of affairs produced by or resulting from the original decision.' Immigration law specialist Simon Jeans said that although Giles had the power to cancel this visa it 'was a risk' and a 'decision [made] in haste' as he was under pressure to save his job. He suggested it would have been less risky for the Immigration Department to cancel XMBQ's visa rather than the minister intervening. XMBQ was born in Somalia in the 1960s before fleeing to Lebanon in 1993. He arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2004. XMBQ was placed on the sex offenders register for 15 years after pleading guilty to the public exposure charges in June 2017. In December 2017, his visa was cancelled by a delegate of the immigration minister but this was later overturned in the Federal Court. Lawyers for the man claimed Giles's decision to cancel his visa had been impacted by XMBQ being charged with two counts of rape, although he was not convicted. Justice Horan rejected this claim. The Albanese government and Mr Giles suffered a similar blow in January this year when a Bhutan-born man who attacked his wife with a meat cleaver was allowed to remain in Australia by the Federal Court. It ruled Mr Giles had made multiple 'jurisdictional errors' by overturning an appeals decision that the man could remain in Australia, because he did not consider the effect of deportation on his children and his stateless person status.
Sydney Morning Herald
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Muslim Vote to support candidates in NSW, Victorian elections
A pro-Palestine political movement that failed to win a seat at the May federal election has vowed to push on and support candidates for the upcoming Victorian and NSW state elections. The Muslim Vote endorsed independent candidates in three Labor-held seats – Watson and Blaxland in western Sydney and Calwell in Melbourne's north-west. Its greatest success was in Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's seat of Watson, where independent Ziad Basyouny was the second-most popular candidate on a two-candidate preferred basis. Burke, who was accused of 'vote buying' after holding pre-election mass citizenship ceremonies in Sydney's culturally diverse western suburbs, still comfortably won the seat, receiving 66 per cent of the vote after preferences were distributed. In Education Minister Jason Clare's seat of Blaxland, Ahmed Ouf won 18.76 per cent of first preferences, but the Liberal candidate was second-preferred. In Calwell, Samim Moslih only garnered 6.85 per cent of first preferences. Despite failing to win a seat, Muslim Vote convenor Sheikh Wesam Charkawi said the results were a 'significant step' that 'demonstrated the model works'. In each seat, the independent campaign ate into both Labor and the Liberals' first preference vote distribution from the 2022 federal election. 'One form of success in the political arena is unseating the sitting minister. Another form is winning hearts and minds of the masses, setting the foundations for future challenges,' Charkawi said. 'We've had an avalanche of people reach out to us post-election, either to be candidates or to support our work ... The community isn't backing down. We all want to continue.'
