After seven good weeks, Albo has finally come up with a stupid idea.
Now, I like Kiwis. I have some good mates over the ditch including their Trade Minister Damian O’Connor (who has shown some considerable naivety regarding China, but is still a good bloke and Rugby player). However, we cheapen our vote if we allow any foreign nationals, no matter how long they have lived in Australia, the right to vote here. If they are so keen to do so, they can become Australian citizens.
I suspect Albo might think that most of them will vote Labor/Green and thus help the ALP. I know Gough Whitlam in 1975 when South Vietnam fell, did not want to allow Vietnamese boat people to come to Australia because they were strong anti-communists, and would be more likely to vote for the LNP.
Indeed, I wonder why it is that Kiwis and for that matter many Islanders who come here via NZ and have become Kiwi citizens, and who have lived here, in many cases for decades don’t bother to become naturalised Australian citizens.
From 2016 to early 2019, I was a Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney and I did lots of the Section 501 cases. These cases deal with offenders who were not Australian citizens, had committed serious crime/s and had been sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment. Such offenders are usually deported after serving their sentence to the country that they are a citizen of (unless they satisfy some rigorous legislative requirements). I did a few cases and sent a few Kiwis back who had come here as four- or five-year-olds. I recall telling the immigration lawyers who appeared before me that they really needed to encourage the various communities concerned to become Australian citizens so they couldn’t be sent back. We would then be stuck with them for good or bad.
Some I allowed to stay, because the crimes were not so bad or they had other good reasons to stay in Australia, such as they employed 40 workers, or would be going back to a hellhole like Somalia or Afghanistan and would most likely end up dead.
Our 501 laws do take this all into account. If the country an offender is going to be repatriated to is a civilised, first world country similar to Australia, like NZ or the UK, what’s the problem? They are not going to be mistreated and they did not have to commit the crime/s here in the first place if they were concerned about going “home”, even if “home” was a country they left when they were four or five.
Like any law, the 501 rule is not perfect but it enables us to send back serious offenders who commit serious crimes like rape and murder back to their country of origin. If they can’t bother to become Australian citizens, why should they stay? Bad call, Albo.
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.
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