CGDZ and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of the Minister's decision not to revoke the mandatory cancellation of the Applicant's Class BB Subclass 155 (Five Year Resident Return) visa. The Applicant did not pass the character test due to serious criminal convictions. The Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether there was another reason to revoke the mandatory cancellation decision, considering Ministerial Direction No. 90.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the Applicant's circumstances constituted "other considerations" that warranted the revocation of the visa cancellation, and if so, what weight should be given to those considerations. Specifically, the Tribunal had to assess the Applicant's conduct, including offences of reckless conduct endangering life, intentionally causing serious injury, and recklessly causing injury, against the principles outlined in Ministerial Direction No. 90, particularly concerning the protection of the Australian community.

The Tribunal reasoned that while the Applicant had presented mitigating factors, including his background, efforts at rehabilitation in prison, and the circumstances surrounding the offences which involved family violence, these did not outweigh the primary consideration of protecting the Australian community. The Deputy President noted that "other considerations" must be genuinely "other" and not merely secondary to primary considerations. Applying the principles from *Suleiman v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection*, the Tribunal considered the weight to be given to both primary and other considerations. Despite acknowledging the family violence context and the Applicant's remorse and rehabilitation efforts, the seriousness and nature of the Applicant's conduct were found to be significant.

Ultimately, the Tribunal concluded that it could not exercise the discretion to revoke the cancellation of the Applicant's visa. The decision under review was affirmed.