November 29, 2023
The Coalition has questioned whether all 141 detainees needed to be released into the community following a landmark High Court ruling as Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil refused to criticise the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police after one detainee absconded.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Wednesday that the High Court’s reasons for ruling that indefinite immigration detention was illegal suggested some of the detainees were freed prematurely when it was not necessary.
Paterson described the High Court’s reasons as a “very narrow ruling” specifically relating to the stateless Rohingya man – a paedophile rapist given the pseudonym NZYQ.
“The court is very clear that because NZYQ was a child sex offender and because Australia has never before successfully resettled a child sex offender in a third country … [NZYQ’s] detention was indefinite because there was no reasonable prospect he could be removed,” Paterson said.
“What that also makes clear though, is that it is possible that some of the 141 people who have been released may not have needed to be released.”
The successful legal challenge has already forced the government to introduce emergency legislation for mandatory electronic monitoring and curfews on freed detainees.
Speaking to ABC radio on Wednesday morning, O’Neil confirmed one of the detainees released following the ruling remained at large in the community, but refused to provide further information or criticise the police.
“I’m not going to go into the detail of it, other than to say that the Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police have done an exceptional job here … I am not going to criticise police,” she said.
Paterson said O’Neil should provide more information about the missing detainee.
“The minister has given half a dozen media interviews this morning and every time she was asked, she refused to give that information [and] said it was a police matter. I don’t think that’s good enough,” he said.
The new preventative detention laws O”Neil announced on Wednesday, which would allow authorities to lock up the worst offenders, could be introduced as soon as Thursday.
O’Neil said the High Court’s reasons for its decision to overturn indefinite immigration detention made it clear that the final call on whether an offender should be returned to detention must lie with a court, rather than politicians. However, the government can design the laws that help shape that decision.
“I have said repeatedly that if it were up to me, all these people would be in detention … however, I must follow the laws like every other Australian,” O’Neil said.
Debate has become tense on Wednesday morning between O’Neil and opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume over the release of 141 detainees, with both accusing each other of lying.
Appearing on Seven’s Sunrise program, Hume and O’Neil disagreed on the government’s handling of the landmark High Court decision.
“I have great respect for Clare and we go back a long way, but I cannot remember an occasion where there’s been a greater public breach of public safety than by two ministers who are clearly not up for the job,” Hume said.
“Clare released 140 detainees into the community before this High Court reasoning was brought down … at every step of the way you said that there was nothing that you could do, and then the next day you turn around and do exactly what it is the Coalition has been calling out for.”
O’ Neil responded: “You should not lie to people in the way that you are right now. Stop playing politics, come into the parliament and work with us to protect the Australian community.”
