Evans Overturns 187 Visa Decisions
May 28, 2008
Between January 1 and March 31 Senator Evans finalised the cases of 472 people who had applied for ministerial intervention after their cases were rejected by the immigration department and one of two review tribunals.
“I have granted a total of 187 visas,” Senator Evans told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.
Of those 187 visas, 116 were granted to refugees whose applications had previously been rejected by the Refugee Review Tribunal.
But Senator Evans said he still intended to overhaul the visa applications process to divest himself of some of his intervention powers.
“I don’t think primarily that decision-making power should be in the hands of the minister except in exceptional circumstances and this is no longer an exceptional circumstance, it’s part of the system,” he said.
“People go the ministerial intervention route as a way of getting cases resolved that aren’t properly dealt with in the system or as the next level of appeal.
“It is a question of whether that is good public policy and I don’t think it is.”
Senator Evans said some of his intervention decisions had simply involved signing off on decisions largely already made by former minister Kevin Andrews.
Senator Evans said he would release ministerial intervention figures four times a year, saying they had not been transparent enough to date.
Meanwhile, the federal opposition expressed concerns Wednesday about funding cuts to the immigration department’s overseas posts.
The hearing heard 10 per cent of Australian immigration staff working in overseas posts would be cut.
Opposition immigration spokesman Chris Ellison said many of the posts were in sensitive locations with high levels of visa applications.
“I am concerned that these significant cuts are being made to key posts,” he said.
“Our overseas posts perform critical work and it is essential that they are properly resourced and the staff are well supported.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released Wednesday showed the majority of recent migrants were finding work.
More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of migrants who have arrived in Australia in the past 10 years were employed as at November 2007, compared with 66 per cent for people born in Australia.-AAP, 28 May, 2008
