Tupou Taise'Atonio Patua Fehoko told the tribunal enforced return to New Zealand would leave him as a homeless 24-year-old with "no prospects of life and without any hope of rebuilding his life". Photo / 123RF
A New Zealander who described himself as a committed Australian, despite his "substantial criminal record", has failed to convince Australian authorities he should be allowed to stay in the country.
Tupou Taise'Atonio Patua Fehoko's temporary visa was cancelled in December 2020 – a few months after he received a 14-month prison sentence on a serious violence charge.
A concerted effort to have the visa decision reversed has failed.
A decision released last month by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia shows that the 25-year-old's temporary visa was mandatorily cancelled in December 2020, primarily on the basis that he did not pass the character test and he was serving a full-time custodial sentence for what was described as serious violence.
Fehoko's alcohol-fuelled assault on a person on a train, whom he punched several times in the head while trying to take his phone, preceded further offending while on bail, including cannabis possession, theft of alcohol, and failure to attend court.
He was sentenced to prison in September 2020, with an eight-month non-parole period.
Fehoko was born in New Zealand, was truant in school and failed to complete tertiary study when he took up work as a labourer to support his family.
In January 2017 he began a relationship with a woman, and took on the role of father to her child. They moved to Australia where Fehoko's partner had family. He stopped using cannabis, got a job as a labourer, and then worked as a storeman until February 2020 when he lost his job due to the Covid pandemic.
Fehoko was not entitled to welfare, and he took up drinking again when "life just went downhill".
His partner was feeling the strain of being the sole financial provider and the couple temporarily separated.
It was not long after that Fehoko committed the serious assault, which was captured on a security camera. He told police at the time of his arrest he could not remember what happened but admitted it was him in the photographs when shown them.
The tribunal noted Fehoko had tried without success to appeal against his sentence on the criminal matters.
Fehoko sought the tribunal's input after an unsuccessful request to Australian immigration authorities for a review of the original decision to cancel his visa. He said enforced return to New Zealand would leave him as a homeless 24-year-old with "no prospects of life and without any hope of rebuilding his life"; he would have no family support or chance of employment and he could not survive.
The tribunal was unconvinced, and neither did it believe Fehoko's heartfelt commitment to Australia was genuine.
"The applicant claims that he considers himself Australian and he believes Australia to be his country. He said has never seen himself as anything other than an Australian living with Pacific Island influences," tribunal member Rebecca Bellamy said.
"He loves his life as an Australian, upholding the values, ideals and culture like any other Australian citizen. These claims are simply not plausible given the fact that the applicant had never been to Australia until he was 21 years old.
"Further, for a period of around six months he did not uphold Australian values and ideals as he repeatedly broke the law. I do not accept that the applicant could, on any rational basis, identify as Australian. I do, however, accept his evidence that he now feels like he belongs in Australia,' the tribunal said in its decision.
When assessing his character the tribunal noted that Fehoko was a "humble, well-meaning, hard-working person" who contributed to his local community and, at a young age, became a father to a little girl whose biological father wanted nothing to do with her.
"It is difficult to comprehend that he committed a violent, unprovoked, sustained attack. However, the undeniable fact is that he did."
The tribunal also heard the argument that the child would be devastated if Fehoko was deported, but it failed to convince them. It also considered the option open to the family to move back to New Zealand, which was not the preference of Fehoko's partner.
In weighing up all the factors the tribunal did consider the impact on his partner and her child, but the risk of "repeated violent offending" outweighed all others. It said there were no other reasons to revoke the cancellation of the applicant's visa, and agreed to uphold the original decision to cancel it.
A selection of cartoons from Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson over the past year