Copyright kanivatonga
A tribunal has ruled that a Tongan father must be deported from Australia—a decision that could potentially separate him from his family. Tu’aefe Pālelei, who played 15 provincial games between 2007 and 2009, became involved in serious criminal activities after arriving in Perth from New Zealand in 2010, following the collapse of his contract with the Western Force Super Rugby side due to injury. He is now facing deportation to New Zealand, where he was born. According to the tribunal ruling, he would likely relocate to Tonga. The ruling came despite heartfelt pleas from the man’s wife, who told the hearing the family would be “broken” if he were removed, revealing she had become self-sufficient during his imprisonment, according to a report by the New Zealand Herald. They have six children; two are adults. After arriving in Perth in 2010, Pālelei worked as a nightclub doorman and bouncer, a debt collector, and took jobs in construction and landscaping. During this period, he began accumulating a criminal record, including driving offences in 2010, assault in 2011, possession of methamphetamine for supply in 2015, and possession of a large enough quantity in 2019 to be declared a drug trafficker. He sold some of the drugs he supplied to undercover police officers. In 2021, a vehicle parked at his home was found to have a sports bag containing A$264,000 ($299,000) cash, the Herald reported. While on bail for other offending, Pālelei delivered a bag containing A$50,000 to an associate as a down payment on 10kg of meth. In all, Pālelei has amassed 17 convictions in Australia for driving, assault, weapons and drugs offending. He has been incarcerated twice and was most recently sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in December 2022. He is currently in Casuarina Prison south of Perth, with an earliest release date of September 7, 2027. Palelei’s visa to be in Australia was cancelled under Section 501 of the Australian Migration Act because he had been sentenced to a prison term of more than 12 months. According to tribunal reports, the seriousness and extent of his offences leave little room for leniency from Australian authorities. “The tribunal considers that the applicant [Palelei] presents a real, and not insignificant, risk of reoffending and, if he were to reoffend, further significant harm would be visited upon the Australian community,” the Herald reported Senior tribunal member Chelsea Lyford as saying. “The tribunal considers that the risk to the Australian community should the applicant commit further offences or engage in further serious conduct, weighs heavily against revocation.” Lyford affirmed the decision under review – the decision not to revoke Palelei’s visa cancellation. Although born and educated in New Zealand, Palelei is originally from Tonga. He told the tribunal that if deported, he would most likely travel from New Zealand to live with his elderly mother in Tonga, where he spent part of his childhood.
