August 14, 2024
The opposition calls for Labor frontbencher to resign The Coalition says Labor frontbencher Andrew Giles breached the ministerial code of conduct and should resign for misleading parliament after he told question time last November that all detainees required to be released into the community as a result of the NZYQ High Court decision were on bridging visas.
Documents obtained by the office of Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan under Freedom of Information laws show that Mr Giles was aware that at least 83 detainees had been released into the community before being granted bridging visas.
Speaking on 2GB radio, Mr Tehan said on Tuesday that Anthony Albanese "put in place a ministerial code of conduct, and in that ministerial code of conduct it has consequences for misleading the parliament".
"We've got a clear-cut case, yet Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister seems to be just prepared to completely walk away from that ministerial code of conduct now," Mr Tehan said.
Section 4.1 of the ministerial code of conduct states that "ministers are expected to be honest in the conduct of public office and take all reasonable steps to ensure that they do not mislead the public or the parliament." "It is a minister's personal responsibility to ensure that any error or misconception in relation to such a matter is corrected or clarified, as soon as practicable and in a manner appropriate to the issues and interests involved."
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the release of detainees into the community before being granted a valid visa was "extraordinary".
"Why did Andrew Giles tell the parliament they were issued visas? Why did he say they were in the community on bridging visas with strict conditions? We know that is not the case. It seems like a textbook case of having misled the parliament," he said.
"There should be consequences for that under the Prime Minister's own ministerial code of conduct. It doesn't matter that he's in a different portfolio if he's misled the parliament, he should be sacked."
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that Mr Giles received eight submissions from the Department of Home Affairs between November 10 and 16 when he was the immigration minister. The submissions revealed that at least 83 dangerous individuals were granted their freedom and were residing as unlawful non- citizens in the community before they received their bridging visas. When asked in parliament by Peter Dutton on November 15 whether any of the "hardcore criminals released into the community following the High Court's decision ... were released into the community without a visa", Mr Giles said all of those released were on bridging visas. "I can confirm that all of those individuals required to be released as a result of the decision of the High Court are on bridging visas with appropriate conditions," he said.
The government and Mr Giles do not believe there was any misleading of the parliament. Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth told the Today program on Tuesday morning that the government "had to respond to a decision from the High Court".
"We argued against that decision, but that decision was made and so we then passed laws to ensure that we kept the community safe," she said.
"Now, of course, the opposition just played politics with that, but we had to deal with the circumstances that the High Court provided."
Mr Giles is now the Minister for Skills and Training following a frontbench reshuffle unveiled in July by the Prime Minister.
