Australian Migration

HUNDREDS of people are being refused entry to Australia each day because they are deemed not good enough.

But the Rudd Government yesterday hinted it had no plans to relax its immigration policy as new data revealed almost 650,000 visa applications had been rejected by the Immigration Department since 2004.

The statistics, which equate to about 400 rejections a day, were drawn from a question on notice which took more than a year to table in Federal Parliament.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said 160,956 applicants were denied entry in 2004, 177,684 were knocked back in 2005, 156,479 were refused in 2006 and 153,827 were rejected last year.

His response showed it was departmental staff and not the then-minister rejecting hopeful migrants and visitors.

Despite Senator Evans earlier this year pledging to culturally reform his department, he dismissed the need for a review into why hundreds of thousands of people were being denied entry here.

“The Rudd Government is committed to strong border security measures and the orderly processing of migration to our country,” Senator Evans said.

“It is crucial that we maintain the integrity of our immigration system and ensure that people meet the criteria for the visas they apply for.”

Senator Natasha Stott Despoja last year asked former immigration minister Kevin Andrews how many visas his department had knocked back after US rapper Snoop Dog was denied entry based on bad character grounds.

A department spokesman said yesterday Australia had a non-discriminatory immigration policy and visa applicants had to meet a range of criteria. He said a person could be knocked back for having poor health, not enough money, bad character grounds or on suspicious they would outstay their visa or work illegally. Answering the question on notice, Senator Evans said it would be too time-consuming to reveal the number of visa applications which had been refused because of a criminal conviction.

But he said the people who failed character tests were associated with people or groups suspected of being involved in criminal conduct; were not of good character because of their past or if there was a significant risk they would “harass, molest, intimidate or stalk another person in Australia”.

The department can waive the character test under section 501 of the Migration Act if a person’s conviction or past behaviour is not considered serious.

About 4.3 million people were granted temporary and permanent visas to Australia in 2006-2007.