Te Ohaere and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application by Mr Te Ohaere to review the mandatory cancellation of his Class TY Subclass 444 Special Category (Temporary) visa. The cancellation was based on Mr Te Ohaere failing to pass the character test due to serious and repeat offending. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was tasked with determining whether to revoke this cancellation.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether there was another reason, pursuant to Ministerial Direction No. 99, to revoke the mandatory cancellation of Mr Te Ohaere's visa, given that he did not pass the character test. This required the Tribunal to consider and weigh the various primary and other considerations outlined in Direction 99, including the protection of the Australian community, the best interests of minor children, expectations of the Australian community, and international obligations.

The Tribunal reasoned that while Mr Te Ohaere's offending, which included threatening a store employee and a delivery driver with a knife, and driving at a fast pace towards an off-duty police officer, weighed heavily against revocation (Primary Consideration 1), other factors strongly favoured it. Specifically, Primary Consideration 3, relating to the best interests of minor children, weighed very heavily in favour of revocation, as did Primary Consideration 4, concerning expectations of the Australian community. The Tribunal placed particular weight on Primary Consideration 3, finding that the cumulative effect of the favourable considerations, when assessed under Direction 99, justified revoking the visa cancellation.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the decision of the delegate of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and substituted a decision to revoke the mandatory cancellation of Mr Te Ohaere's visa.