Bebawy and Migration Agents Registration Authority (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr. Bebawy against a decision by the Migration Agents Registration Authority (the Authority) to cancel his registration as a migration agent. The dispute centred on whether Mr. Bebawy had acted with integrity and was a fit and proper person to provide immigration assistance, as required by the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) (the Act). The case was heard by Deputy President Molloy of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The Tribunal was required to determine the extent to which Mr. Bebawy had failed to comply with the Code of Conduct prescribed under the Act. Crucially, the Tribunal had to assess whether Mr. Bebawy lacked integrity or was otherwise not a fit and proper person to provide immigration assistance. Finally, the Tribunal had to decide, in light of these findings, how the power under s 303(1) of the Act, which allows for the cancellation or suspension of a migration agent's registration, should be exercised.

The Tribunal found that Mr. Bebawy had not complied with the Code of Conduct and was not a person of integrity, nor a fit and proper person to provide immigration assistance. This conclusion was reached after considering evidence regarding Mr. Bebawy's conduct, including his handling of information requests from the Tribunal and his responses to complaints received by the Authority. The Tribunal was satisfied that Mr. Bebawy's accepted breaches of the Code of Conduct were sufficiently serious to warrant cancellation rather than a lesser sanction like suspension.

The Tribunal affirmed the Authority's decision to cancel Mr. Bebawy's registration as a migration agent. The Tribunal determined that the correct and preferable decision was to uphold the cancellation and not to impose a lesser sanction, such as suspension, for the period that had elapsed since the Authority's original decision.