Palelei returned to New Zealand briefly before going back to settle in Perth later that same year.
Instead of playing rugby for a living, he worked as a doorman and a bouncer at a nightclub, and as a debt collector, as well as taking jobs in construction and landscaping.
He also started collecting criminal convictions – first, for driving offences in 2010, assault in 2011, possessing methamphetamine for supply in 2015, and possessing enough of the same drug in 2019 to be declared a “drug trafficker”.
Some of the drugs he supplied were sold 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.
While on bail for other offending, Palelei delivered a bag containing A$50,000 to an associate as a down payment on 10kg of meth.
In all, Palelei 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.
In prison south of Perth
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.
Thousands of New Zealanders have been deported from Australia under this section of the law, sometimes straining relationships between the two countries.
Collectively, the deportees have become known as “501s”.
Palelei requested in November last year that the cancellation of his visa be revoked.
When an Australian Government official declined to do that, he appealed to the Australian Administrative Review Tribunal.
The tribunal considered his case and released its decision this month – it agreed with the official to not revoke the visa cancellation, meaning Palelei is liable for deportation when he finishes his prison term.
In coming to its decision, the authority weighed up a number of factors, including the expectations and protection of the Australian community, offset by Palelei’s ties to Australia and the interests of his children.
Potential impact on family
Palelei has a wife and six children in Australia, two of whom are adults.
His wife told the tribunal the family would be “broken” if Palelei were deported, but she had become independent and self-sufficient by providing for them while he was in prison.
“I do not want to return to New Zealand and start again,” she said.
Senior tribunal member Chelsea Lyford said it was clear from the evidence that it would be in the best interests of the children for him to remain in Australia, but other factors needed to be considered.
These included the “very serious” nature of Palelei’s offending, the effects of his prolonged incarceration on his children’s development, and their potential exposure to further criminal conduct if he stayed in Australia and reoffended.
Lyford also said the expectations and protection of the Australian community were factors that weighed heavily against him.
“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,” Lyford’s decision said.
“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’s elderly mother lives in Tonga.
Palelei said it was most likely that if deported, he would travel from New Zealand to live with her in Tonga, where he spent part of his childhood.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.