Bikie kicked out after 18 years

 

 

A Comanchero bikie has become the first WA gang member to be hit with a deportation order as part of a national crackdown on overseas-born criminals who habitually flout Australia's laws.

 

 

New Zealand-born Pani Yancy Fraser, 32, had his visa revoked on Tuesday, which means he will be sent packing as soon as criminal charges he is facing are dealt with by the courts.

 

 

The convicted armed robber has done two stints in WA jails since 2008 and is on remand awaiting trial over a high-speed pursuit involving a stolen car.

 

 

If found not guilty, he can expect to be deported immediately. But if convicted, he would first have serve any prison sentence before being sent home.

 

 

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced in December that bikies who had failed to take up Australian citizenship were in his department's sights because of their criminal activities and associations.

 

 

More than 180 gang members and other criminals convicted of serious offences had been kicked out since the crackdown began.

 

 

It is believed that as many as 10 WA-based gang members are on the hit list and it is believed some have already begun abandoning their club memberships in a bid to avoid a one-way ticket home.

 

 

Fraser moved to Perth with most of his family, including his mother and father, when he was aged 14. He has three children aged 8, 9, and 14 who were born in Australia.

 

 

Fraser's mother Lisa told _The West Australian _last night that deporting her son would be a cruel act that would leave his children without a father.

 

 

She said her son had been trying to turn his life around and had planned to quit the Comancheros before his arrest last year on the current charges. "I know he is a bad boy and he has done wrong and I do not condone that but why punish his children as well as him," Ms Fraser said.

 

 

"He has no one back in New Zealand except for his uncle and aunty but they're old and could not afford to support him.

 

 

"What will he do? He has not lived there for 18 years."

 

 

A spokesman for the Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash said the right to live in Australia was a privilege and those who abused it were no longer welcome.

 

 

"The coalition Government's priority is the protection of our citizens," the spokesman said.

 

 

"We therefore take a very dim view of those who abuse the privilege of coming to Australia and engage in illegal and antisocial behaviour.

 

 

"Such perpetrators should be under no illusion that we will use these options and remove them where necessary."

 

 

The crackdown on bikies involves section 501 of the Migration Act where the Immigration Minister has the right to cancel visas on "character grounds".

 

 

The same grounds were used last year to lock the national president of the Rebels Alex Vella out of the country.

 

 

Fraser is due to face trial on his current charges in June.

 

 

He will have the right to appeal against the deportation order on compassionate grounds.