March 13, 2024
Ten former immigration detainees arrested for breaching visa conditions after their release are expected to walk free "without consequences" due to a blunder the Albanese government is rushing to fix.
Labor has been accused of "breathtaking incompetence" following revelations the government issued invalid visas to 149 convicted criminals released after the High Court ruling in November.
Lawyers for the Department of Home Affairs recently found a "technical inconsistency" in Abbott government-era laws, which subsequently voided Labor's strict measures passed last year to monitor the detainee cohort.
This invalidated the visas, which imposed conditions such as curfews, regular check-ins and wearing electronic ankle monitors on the former detainees.
Since the detainees were released the Australian Federal Police have made 13 arrests in relation to 10 men who were charged with breaching their visa conditions.
Several skipped curfew or failed to check in with authorities on multiple occasions despite repeated warnings to do so.
However the legal bungle means none of the men technically held a valid visa to breach, and it is now expected they will all have their charges dropped.
The visa issue does not affect the eight detainees who have been charged with reoffending under state criminal laws.
Labor said the legal inconsistencies with the visa have been closed by ministerial regulation, and all 149 visas were being reissued.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said it was "no wonder" Australians had "no faith in Labor" on national security and community safety.
"Even by the Albanese government's low standards this is breathtaking incompetence," he said.
"Because of their ineptitude, hardened criminals released onto the streets who breached their visa conditions will walk free without any consequences." Documents provided to Senate estimates last month revealed that of the 149 asylum seekers released after the High Court determined the government could not indefinitely detain them, seven of the cohort were murderers and 37 were sex offenders.
