People who have lived in Australia for years are to be deported to countries including Britain and New Zealand, throwing spotlight on strict visa policies

Who is being held on Christmas Island?

The island – a tiny rock in the Indian Ocean far closer to Jakarta than any Australian city – has been used as an immigration detention centre for asylum seekers since 2001. But the complexion of the population has changed in recent months, with the addition of a new cohort, the so-called 501s, migrants whose visas have been cancelled and who face imminent deportation.

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Christmas Island is currently home to 199 detainees, 113 of whom, according to the Australian government, have criminal convictions.

The 501s, facing only an indefinite incarceration without charge, or forcible deportation, now outnumber asylum seekers in many immigration detention centres across Australia, including on Christmas Island.

Why have so many visas been cancelled?

Nearly 400 people have been caught up in changes to Australia’s Migration Act that automatically cancel the visa of a person deemed to have a “substantial criminal record”. That is now defined as a crime carrying a prison sentence of 12 months, even if the time served is much lower.



Section 501 of the Migration Act – hence the “501s” moniker for those affected - allows for the cancellation of the visa of a person who “does not satisfy the minister that the person passes the character test”.



The character test is both broad and subjective. It includes provision that a person can have a visa cancelled if the minister “reasonably suspects” a person of associating with a group or person engaged in criminal activity, even if they commit no crime themselves.

The government embarked on a massive enforcement campaign of the character test, detaining people even for historical offences, or people who had lived for years in Australia after serving several short prison sentences.



The number of people detained under section 501 rose more than 600% in a year, from 76 in 2013-14 to 580 in 2014-15.

Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, is more than 1,500km from mainland Australia. Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, is more than 1,500km from mainland Australia.

Why are the 501s not simply being deported?

If those whose visas have been cancelled return to their country of birth, they are deemed to have accepted their deportation and cannot return to Australia, where many of them have lived for many years and have homes, jobs and families.

A significant number have lived in Australia since infancy and have no connections in the countries they are to be deported to.

To contest the deportation decision, they must remain in detention until their appeal is heard.



Are those facing deportation serious criminals?

Some of those on Christmas Island do have significant and violent criminal histories; the Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has described them as “serious criminals … extreme threats”.

New Zealand citizens held include those convicted of manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, child sex offences, armed robbery, armed assault on a child or spouse, assaulting police, drug supply and weapons and stalking offences, the Australian government said.

But some are there for relatively trivial offences such as multiple driving offences or property crimes.



Ian Wightman, a British citizen who has spent 50 of his 51 years in Australia, who served in the Australian army reserve, and whose partner, siblings and elderly parents are in Australia, is being held on the island facing deportation for lighting a scrub fire.

Several of the detainees on Christmas Island are New Zealanders. Other New Zealand-born men are in detention on the Australian mainland – including Ngati Kanohi Te Eke Haapu, also known as Ko Rutene, who served as a bodyguard to New Zealand prime minister John Key in Afghanistan and has no criminal record – and risk being deported from Australia on “character grounds” solely on the basis of membership of the Rebels motorcycle club.

Why were there riots on Christmas Island?

The mix of asylum seekers hoping for a way into Australia and 501s resisting being forced out has proven volatile, with a string of assaults, riots and deaths in immigration detention.



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This week Christmas Island has been the scene of unrest, with up to $10m in property damage wreaked by riots that followed the death of Fazel Chegeni, an Iranian man being held at the centre despite the fact the government had recognised he was a refugee requiring Australia’s protection.

Serco staff, responsible for maintaining order, withdrew from the detention centre as unrest grew. A number of buildings were set alight by detainees.

Not all of those in detention took part in the riots, which lasted for two nights before riot police carrying shields and weapons raided the centre, reportedly using teargas and rubber bullets to forcibly re-establish control.

What does the Australian government say?

Dutton, the immigration minister, has firmly defended the government’s visa cancellation policies. He told the ABC people were not sentenced to prison terms of 12 months or more for minor offences.



He said visa cancellation for non-citizens convicted of a crime was unremarkable internationally and had been part of Australian migration law since the second world war.



“If somebody is here on a visa … if they’ve committed a crime they have their visa cancelled. And they face the criminal penalty and administratively their visa is cancelled. In this case they’re taken into custody and they await deportation.”

What does the New Zealand government say?

Prime minister John Key sparked a storm in the New Zealand parliament this week when he accused opposition Labour and Green MPs of “backing the rapists” when they raised concerns over the detention of citizens by Australia.

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Labour MP Kelvin Davis visited the centre in October and said detainees were so desperate to return to their Australian homes, they were considering rioting.

“These New Zealand-born Australians are not murderers or rapists. They have served their time yet Australian authorities are treating them as though they are a terrorism threat,” he said.

Key has said he agrees with the policy of deportation, “but I think when it comes to New Zealanders, the threshold’s currently set in the wrong place”, he added.

“It’s a bit little bit like the Australians saying, ‘well, we’re going to pick and choose, we’re going to keep the ones we like but we’re going to send back the ones we don’t like.”