Australian Immigration Daily News

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, Victorian Medical Centres will be closing. No new bookings are being accepted in Victoria. New bookings will become available once restrictions are eased by the Victorian Government.

For visa applicants with existing bookings in Victorian Centres, you will be notified shortly that your appointment has been cancelled and will need to be rescheduled once restrictions are eased and services recommence. No action is required from those who have already made an appointment.

The Department of Home Affairs will be able to issue extensions to complete medical examinations as appropriate.

A 46-year-old Finnish man will be liable for removal from Australia after downloading and distributing thousands of disturbing child exploitation material from mobile phones while in immigration detention. Mr Tapani Henrik Hakkinen was already a serial offender when he pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material in the Brisbane District Court yesterday (6 August 2020).

The discovery of over 5,855 images and 222 videos on mobile phones, was made at the Brisbane Immigration Detention Centre. Mr Hakkinen was interviewed and charged by Queensland Police, who also seized his mobile phones. Mr Haikkinen had only been in immigration detention for approximately 4 months, after serving 21 months in jail for previous child exploitation material offences.

Detention Operations Commander Graeme Grosse said this is a perfect example of the need for the Prohibiting Items Bill currently before Parliament.

The following email update has been received from the Office of the MARA this morning:

"Following our recent quarterly meeting in which we discussed the upcoming removal of practising certificate (PC) holders from the OMARA regulation, please find below statistics on the current numbers of PC holders in each state and territory for your information. 

Please note work has not yet taken place to identify the home state of the registered agents offshore or identifying those PC holders with a restricted PC, however this gives you an overview of the numbers we are working with.

A total of 30 New Zealand citizens have been removed from Australia this week on two charter flights, one from Perth and another from Sydney, after their visas were cancelled on character grounds. Among the group was a known bikie associate who violently assaulted a Queensland Police officer.

Mr Hylton King, a known associate of the Mongrel Mob outlaw motorcycle club gang (OMCG), has a history of violence including his conviction for police assault in Brisbane. Also removed was Mr John Webster, who had been sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment for indecent assault of a child under 12 years.

Both men were removed from Sydney. Of the others removed, convictions included possession of dangerous drugs, persistent exploitation of a child, contravention of domestic violence order, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, aggravated robbery, assault officer in execution of duty, kidnapping and unlawful use of motor vehicles.