'Appeal against Haneef ruling'

MELBOURNE: Hours after a second court ruling struck down his controversial decision to revoke the work visa of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, former Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews has urged the new government to appeal the High Court.

Andrews, now an opposition backbencher after the Labour was voted to power last month, defended his decision of July 16 to revoke Haneef's visa after a Brisbane court granted him bail on terror charges, which were later dropped.

He said the Federal Court decision on Friday on reinstating Haneef's visa provided a new interpretation of the character test which every visa applicant must meet in order to remain in Australia.

He urged the new Immigration Minister Chris Evans to take the case to the High Court. "The Federal Court has today confirmed a new, different interpretation of the character test," Andrews said.

"As the decision involves an arguable interpretation of what parliament intended about a matter that goes to the national interest, I urge the minister to appeal the case to the High Court."

Andrews said he had acted on the evidence provided to him by the Australian Federal Police through the immigration department and the Federal Court's interpretation of visa character test by Justice Arthur Emmett in the 2001 Chan case.

Justice Emmett had found that neither a person's knowledge of an associates criminality or guilty participation was necessary for a person to fail the character test.

Andrews' move was widely criticised as it allowed authorities to keep Haneef in detention despite getting bail from court and later send him out of the country.