The New Zealand-born father of Richmond AFL star Dustin Martin was detained in Sydney yesterday and faces deportation over alleged links to an outlawed motorcycle bikie gang.
Shane Martin is alleged to have failed minimum character requirements and been placed in custody by Australian Border Force officials and New South Wales police. This follows a federal immigration department crackdown on bikies and organised crime figures under the December 2014 laws that gave Peter Dutton, the immigration minister, wider-ranging powers to cancel residency visas and deport individuals with links to organised crime.
On Friday Dutton confirmed the visa of Shane Martin – reportedly a senior member of the Rebels motorcycle club – was cancelled recently, telling reporters in Melbourne: “We are determined to target people who have been involved particularly at high levels of outlaw motorcycle gangs.”
Dutton would not confirm a Herald Sun report that Shane Martin was in custody after being detained in Sydney on Friday.
Shane Martin holds the right to appeal to the federal court against any visa cancellation.
This latest incident continues a long line of problems that have plagued the career of Dustin Martin. In December 2015, the Tigers midfielder was fined $5,000 by Richmond after a female patron of a Melbourne restaurant claimed the footballer had threatened her with a chopstick in an aggressive altercation.
The club also fined him $2,000 two years earlier for a goal celebration in which he appeared to make a handcuff gesture with his hands, later confirmed to be a message to a friend in jail. The same year the Tigers were moved to impose a ban on bikie identities after Martin’s former teammate Jake King invited Bandidos member Toby Mitchell into the changing rooms after a game.
