More embarrassment for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles as gangland mate of crime kingpin Tony Mokbel saved from deportation
a Melbourne A gang figure with serious convictions dating back more than 30 years has had his visa revoked under Labour’s controversial Direction 99.
Kevin Farrugia, 51, an employee of Tony Mokbel, Australia’s most notorious crime lordwas spared from deportation by the Administrative Court of Appeal (AAT).
Monday’s decision, the latest in a series of embarrassments for the government, came as under-fire Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced new guidelines would be issued within days.
More than 150 detainees, including murderers and sex offenders, have been released after the Supreme Court ruled that it was unlawful to detain someone indefinitely if there was no real prospect of deportation to another country.
Farrugia, whose serial crime began in 1993, has been convicted of reckless conduct endangering life, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms and drug trafficking.
Melbourne gangster Kevin Farrugia has had his visa canceled under Labor’s controversial Direction 99. Farrugia is an associate of Australia’s most notorious crime lord Tony Mokbel (pictured wearing a red tie outside a court in Greece in 2007)
Farrugia arrived in Australia from Malta as a 17-month-old baby and his long ties to the Australian community were taken into account, despite having spent more than 12 years in prison.
The AAT noted that Farrugia had an “extensive criminal record”, including a conviction for kidnapping and reckless conduct endangering life in 2003 and “multiple convictions” for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm in 2000, 2004 , 2008, 2009 and in 2023.
“(Farrugia) made no apologies, but did say he had made poor choices at a time when he was under the influence of drugs,” the AAT said.
He also has several drug convictions dating from 1993 to 2022, including “trafficking a commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine” in 2008.
Pseudoephedrine is the active ingredient in the drug methamphetamine, also called ice.
The AAT ruled that his automatic visa revocation should be reversed, citing Direction 99, which said “substantial weight” should be given to Farrugia’s links to Australia as he had spent “almost all his life” in the country.
During Question Time in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Giles said he had revoked 35 visas so far and that “further visas were pending” because Direction 99 was not being interpreted as the Government intended.
“I am aware of the (Farrugia) case… decided by the AAT yesterday and which is pending in accordance with the national interest,” he said.
The Minister last week introduced a 24-hour notice period so that he is quickly notified of cases where the AAT reverses visa cancellations so that he can intervene with ministerial discretion if necessary.
The AAT decision is the latest in a series of embarrassments for the government. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is pictured
