A Sudanese criminal with a lengthy rap sheet claimed he identified as Aboriginal and could play the didgeridoo in a successful bid to be allowed to remain in Australia.
Despite his criminal history, the 35-year-old man, known only as RCWV, had his visa reinstated because of the Direction 99 ruling by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
The thug begged to stay in Australia in a letter to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), claiming he had been adopted by an Indigenous tribe in regional NSW.
He told the AAT he ‘considers Australia home’ due to his connection to Aboriginal culture, including that his partner and two sons, aged nine and five, are Indigenous.
The tribunal heard RCWV had been accepted by an Aboriginal tribe in Orange, in the Central Tablelands.
He now participates in everyday life in the Indigenous community, creates Indigenous art and has even learned to play the didgeridoo.
The tribunal heard that in the eight years between 2012 and 2020, RCWV had 26 convictions including drugs, domestic violence assault, stalking and intimidation.
The 35-year-old man, known only as RCWV, had his visa reinstated despite a lengthy rap sheet due to a direction handed down by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles
The offences became progressively worse over time, beginning with possession of a prohibited drug.
He was later charged with aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving and destruction of property.
He was convicted of stalking, intimidating and assaulting his partner in 2019 and 2020.
Despite the attacks, his partner told the tribunal she was willing to move to Sudan with their children to be with him if he was deported.
But he was still granted a visa after the tribunal ruled his ties to Australia and self-declared Aboriginality favoured his application to stay.
‘We regularly caught up with other members of the tribe and were regularly invited to family gatherings and other important events,’ he told the AAT in the letter.
‘Through those events and catch ups, I formed a strong bond with [his partner’s] family and other cousins, aunts, uncles, elders and other members of [her] family.
‘During those years I also learnt a lot about Aboriginal culture, was taught how paint Aboriginal art and have also played digeridoo in the past.’
RCWV said he was ‘officially welcomed and accepted’ into the Indigenous community during a smoking ceremony in 2017, after the birth of his first son.
‘This ceremony was attended by many members of the family including many elders,’ he said.
‘There were no objections to our acceptance into the Tribe by any members of the family.’
In a judgement issued by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), RCWV’s case was almost entirely considered with Mr Giles’ Direction 99 at front of mind
RCWV told the tribunal that since his ceremony, when his name was formally entered into a book for the community, he has ‘self-identified as an Aboriginal person and considers Australia to by my country’.
Despite his partner’s own deep connections to Australia through her heritage, she told the AAT she did not want her children to be separated from their father, given her own father was part of the Stolen Generation.
‘[She] has already made enquiries with the Sudanese embassy in Australia to obtain information about moving to Sudan,’ the tribunal heard.
‘If [she] moves to Sudan, she will be physically separated from her parents, and from her indigenous culture in Australia.
Mr Giles revealed during Question Time that in response to the crisis, Labor ‘are introducing a new, revised ministerial direction to ensure clear principles’
‘I am very concerned that they would be separated from important cultural connections in Australia, and that their ability to learn about and engage with their indigenous culture would be significantly compromised if they moved to Sudan.
‘I find that the children would suffer serious detriment if they were moved to Sudan.’
The woman has significant mental and physical health conditions and is finding it difficult to raise her sons without her partner, the tribunal heard.
She said she has concerns that if RCWV were to be deported and something were to happen to her, her children would be placed in state care.
RCWV arrived in Australia aged 20 with his family from Sudan. He has PTSD after he claimed he saw two of his siblings die in Sudan, and that he was a child soldier.
Some of his recollections were debated at the tribunal, including by a forensic psychologist who assessed him.
But it was ultimately determined that ‘despite the inconsistencies, what is consistent is that the applicant was exposed to childhood trauma and does suffer from PTSD’.
He failed to meet several criteria to reverse the revocation of his visa according to Mr Giles’s Direction 99 because of his lengthy criminal history and moderate risk of reoffending.
But the tribunal determined his ties to Australia and self-declared Aboriginality favoured his application to stay and approved his bid.
He wrote a statement appealing to the tribunal about his connection to Indigenous Australia, including that his partner and two sons, aged nine and five, are Indigenous
The tribunal heard RCWV was accepted by an Aboriginal tribe in Orange in country New South Wales , where he participated in everyday life in the community, created Indigenous art and even learned to use a didgeridoo
Albanese government turns on AAT
In the wake of the row over rapists and paedophiles being allowed to stay in Australia under the Goovernment’s controversial directive, the PM has now turned on the AAT.
Anthony Albanese slammed the tribunal and argued it has not taken a sensible approach to the direction issued by Mr Giles.
‘The Albanese government has always said that visa decisions need to be guided by two clear principles,’ he said.
‘Firstly the protection of the Australian community. Secondly, common sense.
‘A number of recent AAT would decisions have not shown common sense.’
Mr Giles revealed during Question Time that in response to the crisis, Labor ‘are introducing a new, revised ministerial direction to ensure clear principles’.
He also confirmed he and his department are in the process of ‘reviewing recent AAT decisions’.
Senator Murray Watt, representing Mr Giles in Senate Estimates earlier, argued that the AAT decisions ‘were not in line with the government’s policy’.
‘And frankly, I don’t think these AAT decisions are in line with community expectations either,’ Watt said.
But the Coalition has hit back at the government’s attempts to distance themselves from the crisis, noting that the AAT decisions have been made with direct consideration of Direction 99.