QPRD and Minister for Home Affairs (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of QPRD and the Minister for Home Affairs concerning the non-revocation of a mandatory visa cancellation. The applicant, who did not pass the character test due to a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment or more, sought to have this mandatory cancellation revoked. The Tribunal was tasked with determining whether there was "another reason" why the cancellation should be revoked, applying the Primary and Other Considerations outlined in Direction No 79.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had established "another reason" to justify the revocation of the mandatory visa cancellation, considering the primary consideration of protecting the Australian community from criminal or other serious conduct. This required an assessment of the nature and seriousness of the applicant's conduct and the risk to the community should further offences occur, taking into account the applicant's criminal history.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the applicant's criminal history, which involved two distinct sentencing episodes. The first concerned the offence of "Making child amenable to sexual activity – aggravated," involving a note written to his step-granddaughter, for which the applicant maintained a denial until after his conviction following a contested trial. The second set of offences involved "Dissemination and possession of child exploitation material and sex offender reporting offences," to which the applicant pleaded guilty. The Tribunal noted the applicant's equivocal attitude towards his offending, as evidenced by his submissions attempting to minimise the scale of his conduct. The Tribunal found that the nature of the offending, particularly the child-based offences and the applicant's approach to them, weighed heavily against revocation.

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.