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

This matter concerned an application by a Nigerian citizen for the revocation of a mandatory visa cancellation decision. The applicant had failed to pass the character test due to his offending history. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether there was a discretion to revoke the mandatory cancellation and, if so, whether that discretion should be exercised in the applicant's favour.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant could rely on specific provisions for revocation, and more broadly, whether there was "another reason" why the mandatory visa cancellation decision should be revoked. In considering the latter, the Tribunal was directed to have regard to the considerations outlined in Part C of Direction No. 79, particularly the primary consideration of the protection of the Australian community. This involved assessing the nature and seriousness of the applicant's conduct to date and the risk to the community should he reoffend.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant could not rely on certain statutory grounds for revocation. In assessing whether there was "another reason" to revoke the cancellation, the Tribunal considered the applicant's criminal offending to be very serious, having regard to factors such as the nature of the crimes, including those committed against government representatives, and the frequency of offending. The Tribunal noted that remaining in Australia was a privilege for non-citizens, contingent on being law-abiding and respecting Australian institutions. The Tribunal affirmed the mandatory visa cancellation decision.