November 6, 2024
GARY HARDGRAVE: The court has ruled on these ankle bracelets and curfews on immigration detainees that it's unlawful, meaning up to 215 former detainees, some convicted of serious crimes, will be freed from restriction. And, of course, this raises serious questions about public safety. Senator James Paterson is the shadow Minister for Home Affairs and he, along with Dan Tehan the Shadow for Immigration, Michaelia Cash who looks after Attorney General. I'll check that out in a moment because James Paterson is on the line. Good to talk to you, Senator. Thanks for your time. How have we got to this sort of mess, explain that to me.
JAMES PATERSON: Well, it's another embarrassing stuff up by the Albanese government. You'll remember when the High Court handed down its decision last year, the Albanese government was not ready, not prepared to take any steps to protect the community. In the end, they rushed through legislation that was supposed to protect the community by requiring the released detainees to wear ankle bracelets and to be subject to a curfew. And they assured us at the time that it was constitutionally sound, that it was legally robust. And it turns out that was not true because the High Court has just ruled that law invalid. And these people who now number 215 are free in the community without restrictions.
HARDGRAVE: You know, really the government was just making stuff up on the run. They didn't know what to do. So they cobbled together a set of laws that on the first test have fallen over.
PATERSON: That's exactly right. And I think the key failure was that they failed to be prepared. So they panicked and they rushed and they stuffed it up. And as a result, Australians have been put in danger. Of those 215 people who released 65 of them have gone on to be charged in the community for breaching state and territory laws. That means criminal offences against Australians that shouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to be committed. But the other thing that they've failed to do is to re-detain any of these people because the parliament gave them the power to do that. We rushed through preventative detention laws so that high risk offenders could be taken off the streets and in the 12 months since, they've not used those laws on a single occasion.
HARDGRAVE: And if I recall correctly, my good friend, your leader, Peter Dutton, he was offering to help them how to frame the laws, the government said, no go away, we know what we're doing.
PATERSON: We tried to work in a bipartisan and constructive way. We made suggestions. We ultimately supported the passage of the legislation because it is in the national interest that Australians be protected from these violent non-citizen offenders, among them including 12 murderers, 66 sex offenders, 97 people who have been charged with assault and other serious violent crimes, 15 of serious domestic violence issues. I mean, these are not people that you would want to be free in the community to be able to re-offend. But that's exactly what's happened on this government's watch, and they have stuffed it up again.
HARDGRAVE: Yeah, well, we need builders, not predators, being imported into the country. And this is the problem, we just have an immigration system, and having been a former Minister in that department, It really pains me, James Paterson to say this, but we've got an Immigration Department that's lost its way. The political leadership is not directing it to kind of build the Australia we want. We just seem to be suffering the kind of Australia we're getting from the way this government is handling things so badly.
PATERSON: I think you're right. I think it comes down to political leadership and particularly the Prime Minister's. I mean, he was the guy who thought it was a good idea to appoint Clare O'Neil and Andrew Giles to look after this portfolio. And we know how that worked out. And he replaced them with Tony Burke, who, as you would remember, was a failed Immigration Minister from the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era, someone who let in more than 6000 boats in his short time, 6,000 visitors by boat, in his short time as Immigration Minister. I mean, an absolute scandalously bad performance. And so it's not a surprise that they've stuffed up yet again.
HARDGRAVE: Okay. So the justices ruled the restrictions breached separation of power laws. I mean, what avenues do you actually have now or does the government have, can they actually now re-legislate in some form and test the law again, I guess, in the High Court.
PATERSON: Well, the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, has just issued a media release where he assures us he's got legislation ready to go. We haven't seen it yet and will be taking a very close look at it because we won't be taking it on trust from them this time that they've got the details right. We want to make sure they've actually got the details right this time and that this law withstands any future possible challenges and that the Australian community can be actually protected by it.
HARDGRAVE: Meanwhile, 12 murderers, 66 sex offenders, 97 people convicted of assault, 15 domestic violence perpetrators. That's the kind of list out of the 215 dangerous non-citizen offenders. We've got enough of those who are citizens in the country. Human rights lawyers are calling it a win for fundamental freedoms. But at what point does community safety, does public safety override these kinds of basic human right matters?
PATERSON: Well, I think the Australians who've become victims of those people who've since been released from immigration detention wouldn't see it that way. I think they would see it as a breach of their human rights, including the Perth grandmother who was violently bashed allegedly by one of these released detainees and many others who've been victim of other violent crimes. I mean, the truth is this is a highly recidivist cohort. 65 have committed state and territory offences in just one year out of the 215. That's off the charts. And they do pose a risk to the community and it's appropriate for governments to take steps to protect the community.
HARDGRAVE: Do you think this now sets a precedent for anybody who's been given an ankle bracelet, some sort of curfew? I mean, there are other instances around Australia, domestic instances, James Paterson, that people might say, well the High Court said you can't do this. Or is it just simply because the Federal Government have failed this up, State laws can't be overridden? I just ask the question, without notice and wonder whether you have a view on it?
PATERSON: Well it certainly would be very worrying if the precedent applied to other cases like that, as you say, at the state level. I'm not aware of any advice that says that at this stage, but it does show the importance of getting the detail right the first time, legislating correctly. Because the government was fond of saying in a previous era unconstitutional laws don't protect Australians. Only safe and secure laws that can withstand legal challenge, actually protect the community.
HARDGRAVE: But aren't we now in a position where we need some sort of emergency intervention, these 215 people virtually and probably wandering the streets at will doing whatever they like? They could be next to us in the supermarket. Heaven knows what ever else they might be involved in. I mean, they could be, any one of them, capable of doing bad things at a moment's notice. This surely must require some sort of consideration by government to act and quickly.
PATERSON: Well, I would have thought that the emergency powers that we rushed through the parliament before Christmas last year to allow the government to preventatively detain anyone who posed a risk to community was exactly the kind of action that the government should have taken. But they're taking their merry time to even use those laws. I asked them in Senate estimates this week how far away the first application to the court will be to apply those laws. And they said in a few weeks they might make their first application. Well, that would leave 214 other people who could pose a risk to the community who are no sooner to having those laws applied to them.
HARDGRAVE: That's just awful. James Paterson, you do a great job, great to talk to you today. Thanks for your time.
PATERSON: Thank you.
ENDS
