The determined and affluent lie and buy their way through the maze. Genuine applicants are often discouraged. The more elaborate the regulations become, the more obvious it is that they exist to complicate the process. But undue delay is a violation of due process. Immigration officials at the high commission in Islamabad were this week circling the wagons, referring all questions to Canberra, a measure of the explosive potential of the case.
Careers are on the line.
Once the liberal face of a restrictive policy framed with one eye on the Hanson vote, Mr Ruddock now risks being seen as a tired stalwart of an indefensible system crying out for a minister with the energy to reform it. Shahzad Kayani says the long struggle with Mr Ruddock's department led to a deterioration in his younger brother's health. He had not been sleeping well, or eating properly. The final straw appears to have been yet another delay, this time involving the minister's office. On March 6 the Ombudsman told Shahzad that his brother's case had been passed to Mr Ruddock's office for a final decision, after representations by another member of the Howard ministry, the Sports and Tourism Minister, Jackie Kelly.