Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has been plunged into another extraordinary controversy over the granting of a student visa to a convicted pedophile - who immediately re-offended in Australia.
William Beynon, 28, was deported to the US on Friday after pleading guilty in a Townsville court to nine child sex charges, including using the internet to procure girls under 16 for sex and exposing a child to indecent images.
Beynon had been an exchange student at Queensland's James Cook University for only a few months when he was arrested in March.
Senator Vanstone yesterday denied any wrongdoing by her or her department - even though Beynon had openly admitted his previous convictions and history of internet pedophilia on his visa application.
But the minister acknowledged to The Sun-Herald that Beynon, who received a congratulatory letter from her in August last year advising him of the success of his application, may not have been a suitable candidate for an Australian study visit.
Beynon was caught after using internet chat rooms to make explicit overtures to a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, who was in fact a police officer, and he sent pictures of his genitalia to others.
He was sentenced to more than four years' jail, with his sentence suspended on condition of immediate deportation.
Beynon's counsel, Stuart Durward, told the court his client had openly confessed his criminal history when applying for a study visa.
Mr Durward said the Immigration Department knew of Beynon's conviction and 18-month probation in the US for three offences of using the internet to solicit child sex. Beynon, from Chicago, is a registered sex offender in the US until 2011 - which he also admitted in his application.
Senator Vanstone rejected as "absurd" any criticism of her personally, and deflected criticisms of her department.
"All visa applications for temporary long stay visas and residency are subject to a character test," she said.
"Delegates [from the department] have discretion in cases where sentences or prior criminal convictions are not sufficient to fail a character test.
"I am advised by my department that the delegate gave careful and serious consideration to this visa application."
A departmental officer added: "Mr Beynon's application, including the circumstances of his conviction, was fully considered by the department before the student visa was granted."
The department appeared to recognise the risks, however: Beynon was warned that his visa would be cancelled if he offended in Australia.
Senator Vanstone said that in hindsight, the visa should not have been granted - and the case would be reviewed "to ensure that potential risks to the Australian community are more carefully evaluated".
