A former immigration detainee who once terrorised Canberrans in a crime spree has had his visa cancelled.
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Immigration Minister Andrew Giles revealed to the Parliament on Tuesday that he has cancelled the visa of a Sudanese man who is in police custody after being charged with murder in Brisbane.
"I also want to inform the house that I have cancelled the individual's visa," Mr Giles said during question time while responding to a barrage of attacks from the Coalition.
The man is among a number of former detainees accused of violent crimes after being released by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in accordance with Mr Giles' 2023 direction that community ties, and time spent in Australia, must be taken into account by the tribunal when deciding on cases.
In a similar case, a New Zealand man was freed by the AAT even though he had raped his stepdaughter while his wife was giving birth.
"Our thoughts are of course with the victims in this case," Mr Giles said on Tuesday.
"I believe these visas should remain cancelled and I prioritise the number of cases for urgent cancellation in consideration to that effect," Mr Giles told the Parliament.
![Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is grilled in Question Time over former detainees accused of violent crimes. Picture: Keegan Carroll Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is grilled in Question Time over former detainees accused of violent crimes. Picture: Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/234480217/51fb1498-0e87-46d7-810f-5d3777529f7f.jpg/r0_263_5000_3079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster confirmed to a Senate estimates hearing that the department had not informed the minister of "a number of cases" of detainees freed by the AAT under Mr Giles' controversial Direction 99.
"It is correct that he wasn't informed," Ms Foster told a Senate Estimates hearing, when opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson asked if the department had been "thrown under the bus in question time today".
"We had agreed a protocol with Minister Giles to bring to his attention cases of a particular nature," Ms Foster said.
"We did not adequately resource that function and it was not being done in a timely way and it has not advised Minister Giles.
"What we have done in response is put in place a protocol to ensure that we are advising within a very short time when we have a remit all from the AAT and we are looking rapidly at allocating resources to that function so that we can actually fulfil our commitment to the minister."
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the minister could not wipe his hands of the outcome of his or his department's actions.
"Where does ministerial responsibility start? He's the responsible minister. He put that direction in place," Mr Tehan said.
"It seems that it's only after all these reports over the space of about a week now that he's decided to ask the question ... It beggars belief when this ministerial direction has been in place for well over a year."