Hanna and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This case concerned an Iraqi citizen, Mr Hanna, who sought to have the mandatory cancellation of his Class XB Subclass 200 Refugee visa revoked. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs had refused to revoke the cancellation. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether there was another reason why the visa cancellation should be revoked, having found that Mr Hanna failed the character test due to serious sexual offending involving a child.

The Tribunal was required to consider the primary considerations outlined in Ministerial Direction No. 79, including the protection of the Australian community, the nature and seriousness of Mr Hanna's conduct, the risk of re-offending, and the best interests of any minor children affected by the decision. The Tribunal also had to consider other relevant factors, such as non-refoulement obligations and the extent of impediments to removal.

In its reasoning, the Tribunal found that Mr Hanna's offending, which involved online sexual grooming and a physical meeting with a 12-year-old boy, was very serious and weighed heavily against revoking the visa cancellation. While acknowledging that the offending was not over a prolonged period and did not show a pattern of entrenched behaviour, the Tribunal was not persuaded that Mr Hanna genuinely believed he was interacting with an adult, given the victim's age disclosure and the nature of the online exchanges. Regarding the best interests of Mr Hanna's son, the Tribunal accepted he was a loving father but concluded that he had been unable to fulfil a regular, present parental role for almost all of his son's life due to his incarceration and subsequent immigration detention.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision to refuse to revoke the mandatory cancellation of Mr Hanna's visa.