‘With all due respect’: Senator Cash and senior officials clash over Direction 99 debacle - Sky News Australia

Senator Michaelia Cash has grilled senior executives from the Attorney-General’s department over whether Direction 99 was ever raised as a “significant legal issue” prior to this week.

The government on Wednesday announced the ministerial directive would be revised after it emerged it had been used to inform a decision to overturn the deportation of criminals.

Direction 99, signed by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles last year, made "ties to Australia" a primary consideration during Administrative Appeals Tribunal visa determinations.

Since the information was first revealed in The Australian earlier this week, the opposition have used Senate Estimates to question officials from various departments about how the issue came about.

Ms Cash on Thursday became involved in a tense back and forth with Senator Anthony Chisholm, the government’s chosen representative, about whether the matter had ever been raised as a "significant legal issue" either by the Attorney-General himself or within the department. 

“With all due respect … the government has been aware of its failures in border protection for a long period of time now, you had the NZYQ decision last year,” Ms Cash said.

“Why didn’t the Attorney-General following the NZYQ decision have at the top of his mind that this was a failure and that it should be, A, being monitored … and B, that it should be on the agenda for the significant legal issues committee?”

“Community safety has always been at the forefront of the government’s mind on this Senator Cash,” Mr Chisholm responded, before hitting out at the opposition.

“Unfortunately, on a lot of these issues we have been dealing with an opposition that have been more focused on scoring political hits rather than working constructively with us on legislation.”

Ms Cash pointed to the cases which had been “going on for months now”.

“Are you saying it’s the opposition’s fault that the Attorney-General didn’t call a meeting of the significant legal issues committee?” Ms Cash said.

“I was just pointing out how uncooperative you have been in dealing with these issues,” Mr Chisholm replied.

He had earlier reiterated the AAT, an tribunal which has come under fire for blocking the deportation of a British-born convicted rapist under Direction 99, makes decisions “independent of government". 

“I am aware the Prime Minister said yesterday that the issue of the ministerial direction 99 will be reissued and that is the position the government has taken,” Mr Chisholm told the hearing. 

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2024-05-30 05:08:57Z
CBMixwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5za3luZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9hdXN0cmFsaWEtbmV3cy9wb2xpdGljcy93aXRoLWFsbC1kdWUtcmVzcGVjdC1zZW5hdG9yLW1pY2hhZWxpYS1jYXNoLWdyaWxscy1hdHRvcm5leWdlbmVyYWxzLWRlcGFydG1lbnQtb3Zlci1kaXJlY3Rpb24tOTktZGViYWNsZS9uZXdzLXN0b3J5LzU4ZTA5ZjFmYjM3NjIxMGU2NTU2MDZkZjhhZWFkN2U20gEA

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