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

This matter concerned an application by Mr McGlone to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs' decision not to revoke the mandatory cancellation of his Class TY Subclass 444 Special Visa. The cancellation was based on Mr McGlone failing to pass the character test due to serious criminal conduct. The central dispute was whether there was "another reason" to revoke this mandatory cancellation.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant's personal circumstances and evidence of rehabilitation constituted "another reason" to revoke the mandatory visa cancellation, considering the framework set out in Ministerial Direction No. 90. This involved assessing the nature and seriousness of the applicant's conduct, the risk of reoffending, and balancing these against various primary and other considerations, including the protection of the Australian community, the best interests of minor children, community expectations, and the applicant's links to Australia.

The Tribunal considered evidence of the applicant's remorse, acceptance of responsibility, his family circumstances including six children, his prospect of employment in his personal training business, and opinions from a sentencing judge and a psychologist regarding his low risk of reoffending. However, the Tribunal found that the applicant's past conduct, specifically conspiring to import significant quantities of border-controlled drugs, was "very serious". It concluded that the nature of the harm to the Australian community if such conduct were repeated would be "very significant", impacting individual drug users and their families. Despite acknowledging the applicant's efforts at rehabilitation, the Tribunal determined that these countervailing considerations were insufficient to justify revoking the mandatory cancellation.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to revoke the mandatory cancellation of Mr McGlone's visa.