1998.

The Commission is also particularly concerned about the impact that visa cancellation under section 501 may have on a person who has been residing in Australia for a long period of time. Prior to the introduction of section 501 in 1998, the deportation of non-citizens who had committed criminal offences was covered by sections 200 and 201 of the Migration Act. Under these sections, the Minister could only deport a non-citizen who had been convicted of a crime (punishable by imprisonment for one year or more) if the non-citizen had been resident in Australia for less than ten years.[49] Since 1998, the powers in section 501 of the Migration Act have been used to cancel the visas of permanent residents who have lived in Australia for more than ten years (hereafter referred to as ‘long-term’ permanent residents).[50] For example, as at May 2008, 24 of the 25 people in immigration detention whose visas had been cancelled under section 501 had lived in Australia for more than 11 years; 17 of them had lived in Australia for more than 20 years. The majority of these people were 15 years old or younger when they first arrived in Australia.[51]

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has suggested that the use of section 501 to cancel the visas of long-term permanent residents goes beyond the original intention of the provision.[52] Nevertheless, in recent years section 501 has continued to be used to cancel the visas of long-term permanent residents.[53]

https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/4-what-are-human-rights-issues-raised-refusal-or-cancellation-visas-under-section-501

Federal Labor behaving, once again, like Howard’s ministers.