Migration-law practitioners are poring over Ministerial Direction 123, signed by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on 18 September and published on 26 September, which revamps how decision-makers apply Australia’s stringent ‘character test’. The directive—effective 31 October—replaces Direction 110 and explicitly elevates community safety over personal circumstances when weighing visa cancellations or refusals. Key changes include mandatory cancellation consideration where a non-citizen is convicted of a domestic-violence offence, irrespective of sentence length. The direction also instructs delegates to give ‘primary weight’ to crimes involving coercive control, child exploitation or threats to Australia’s foreign relations. Conversely, the impact on family members in Australia is now a secondary consideration unless exceptional hardship can be proven. For corporate mobility programmes the stakes are high. A temporary-skill-shortage (subclass 482) holder arrested for a bar-fight caution could find their visa cancelled even before a court hearing if police facts indicate bodily harm. Employers sponsoring large mobile workforces—such as mining or construction firms—must reinforce zero-tolerance codes of conduct and ensure access to legal counsel in the event of any criminal allegation. Immigration lawyers warn that the ‘one-strike’ tone of Direction 123 will likely increase the volume of appeals before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, already facing a 14-month backlog. They are advising sponsors to keep meticulous records of employee behaviour and to budget for emergency repatriation should a cancellation be upheld. The Department of Home Affairs says the overhaul is necessary to restore public confidence in the migration system after several high-profile cases of violent offenders retaining visas. Nonetheless, advocacy groups argue the directive risks disproportionate punishment for long-term residents who arrived as children and have limited ties to their country of citizenship.
Source: ALC Lawyers
