November 30, 2023
MICHAEL USHER: Well, joining me from Parliament House is Shadow Home Affairs Minister, Senator James Paterson. Thanks for joining The Latest, Senator.
JAMES PATERSON: Good evening.
USHER: Now, the legislation you said will pass swiftly when it's introduced to Parliament. What's it going to take for these laws to secure the Coalition's support and are there any conditions that you're putting on that?
PATERSON: Well, the starting point is the laws have to be ready and the government has to introduce them. And so far they haven't done that and they haven't shown any sign that they're ready to do that. I fear they're making the same mistake they made three weeks ago when they were caught flat footed and not ready for the High Court's decision when it was handed down. The High Court handed down its reasons. It's given a green light to preventative detention and the government clearly didn't have draft legislation ready to go. So we're looking forward to seeing that legislation. But since we've been calling for it for three weeks, we're highly likely to support its swift passage.
USHER: So my next question was going to be about any briefings, but I'm guessing there's nothing to be briefed on yet in terms of legislation.
PATERSON: We've received no briefing, in fact, no communication at all from the government about its intentions about this other than what they've said publicly, which is a pretty shabby way to handle this, if they do want to receive our support to quickly move this through the parliament. We put the national interest first, put community safety first and we will make sure that tough laws pass the parliament. But we want to make sure that the draft laws that they've proposed are tough enough because we know that two weeks ago when they proposed laws to deal with this, they were too weak. And it was only through our amendments that they were strengthened to actually protect the community.
USHER: Well, any changes or any amendments might well delay it. There's a catch 22 for you. How are you going to handle that?
PATERSON: Well, we don't want to prevent this from being legislated. In fact, we've said we're willing to sit as late as possible and as long as possible. We won't go home this weekend until it is dealt with. But we can't do anything until the government produces a draft bill. So that's what we're waiting for. But we will make sure that before the parliament rises, these laws will be passed and they'll be on the books.
USHER: Senator, the High Court's focus, or the reasons focused on the case of the applicant. NZYQ a child sex offender, in its judgement, it specifically referenced the quote, preventative detention of a child sex offender who presents an unacceptable risk. So, I mean, legally, is there a chance these laws can only apply to that offence and not the other high risk offenders like murderers?
PATERSON: Well, even if it only applies to this offender, at least we'll have one dangerous person off the streets and out of the community. But I think you could draft a much broader law that captures a much wider range of people based on the risk they pose to the community. Ultimately it will be up to the courts to decide whether or not people should be incarcerated. But we want the government to draft a law that's broad enough to capture as many people as possible.
USHER: Well, as we've mentioned, they've just found that missing detainee. What do you make of that situation?
PATERSON: Well, I'm relieved to hear this person has finally been found after at least 48 hours absconding in the community, not wearing the bracelet that they're supposed to to monitor them. What we need to understand now is how this happened and why it happened. Was it because this person refused to wear an ankle bracelet and left into the community, or was it because the ankle bracelet wasn't there and wasn't ready to be applied by Border Force when he was released from detention? That's a question that the government has to now answer now that this person has been identified and found.
USHER: Just clarify the Coalition's position. Do you want all of these detainees scooped up again and put back in detention so that this can be analysed because not all of them are on the severe scale that we've been talking about in terms of the crimes that have that have been committed.
PATERSON: We've said consistently for weeks that we want, at the very least, the highest risk among this cohort off the streets and into detention or jail to protect the community. And the government should detain as many of them as possible. Now, we know that of the 141 in the community, at least 138 pose some kind of risk to the community because the Immigration Minister has only declined to apply an electronic monitoring bracelet to three of that cohort. So the government's the only one in possession of the information that suggests what risk they pose to the community. But we want it to be as broad as possible.
USHER: Alright, Senator James Paterson, thanks for joining us this evening.
PATERSON: Thank you.
ENDS
