· In short: A man charged over a stabbing murder in Brisbane earlier this month was released from immigration despite having an "extensive criminal record".

· A tribunal ruled his visa should be reinstated, after considering a ministerial direction that an individual’s ties to the community and time spent in Australia be given weight in any decision.

· What's next? The federal opposition is demanding the Immigration Minister Andrew Giles explain his knowledge of the case, and detail why the ministerial direction exists.

A man charged over a stabbing murder in Brisbane earlier this month was released from immigration detention despite having an "extensive criminal record", after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) deemed he was at a "low risk" of reoffending.

The AAT considered Sudanese man Emmanuel Saki's bid to have his visa reinstated in March, in line with a 2023 direction issued by the immigration minister which insists an individual's ties to the community and time spent in Australia must be taken into account when ruling on their claim.

When that direction was announced by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in January last year, it was seen as a way to placate the New Zealand government's long-held concerns about the deportation of Kiwi criminals with few connections across the Tasman.

But the federal opposition argue the direction, known as 'Direction 99', has had dangerous consequences.

Saki, 29, stands accused of the murder of a 22-year-old man in Acacia Ridge in suburban Brisbane earlier this month, and faced the Richlands Magistrates Court last week.

The alleged attack happened just weeks after his release from immigration detention, following the AAT's decision to reinstate his visa.

"Our thoughts are with the victim's family," a spokesperson for Mr Giles told the ABC in a statement.

"I want to reassure the community that this person is now in custody with a police investigation underway.

"The minister is seeking urgent advice regarding this individual."

Visa reinstated after automatic cancellation for choking woman

Saki is not related to the cohort of detainees released due to a ruling by the High Court in the case of "NZYQ".

His humanitarian visa was cancelled in 2019 due to a conviction in the ACT in 2018 for choking the mother of one of his two daughters, which carried an 18 month jail term.

Saki was born in Sudan, and had lived in Egypt for a number of years before being granted a humanitarian visa to live in Australia in late 2006 when he was aged 12.

He had told the AAT he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of "childhood trauma", including abuse from his father which led him to be placed into foster care from ages 13 to 18.

The AAT noted Saki had more than 40 convictions across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, including drug possession and making threats to kill.

But the choking charge was the only one which had carried a jail term of more than a year and triggered the automatic tearing up of his visa.

AAT deputy president Stephen Boyle said the immigration minister had "accepted that considerable weight should be given to the fact that [Saki] has been ordinarily resident in Australia during and since his formative years and accepted that this primary consideration weighs in the applicant's favour".

Deputy president Boyle ruled his visa should be reinstated, despite the minister casting doubt on the strength of Saki's ties to his family in Australia — including his two daughters.

The minister had also rejected an assessment by ACT Corrective Services he was a low risk of reoffending after going through rehabilitation programs whilst behind bars, stating he had "continued to engage in abuse or aggressive conduct whilst in immigration detention notwithstanding having received counselling on a regular basis and being prescribed medication."

But deputy president Boyle said "while some of the applicant's offences have been serious, he is now a low risk of reoffending".

"As the tribunal made very clear, it had to take into consideration Ministerial Direction 99," Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan said on Wednesday.

"Now that was a change that Andrew Giles made, so Andrew Giles needs to explain whether that was the reason he did not intervene.

"Will he immediately rescind that ministerial direction? Because he is the minister who has the powers to do that.

"He put an emphasis on the length of time that you have spent in Australia, and he has to explain why he did that and how many other cases potentially have been influenced by this that have led to other detainees out in the community who may commit serious crimes as well."

While unable to cancel the visa a second time on character grounds, other avenues for visa cancellation would have been available to the immigration minister.

"This was a decision of the AAT to overturn the cancellation of the individual's visa," a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said.

"The Ministerial Direction places a significant emphasis on serious offending and family violence — which needs to be considered in all matters.

"As this matter is before the courts I won't comment further."