Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

He's still a minister. Tragically, it is the Australian community that has borne the very real consequences of this government's dysfunction. We will never forget the tragic image of the front page of the West Australian that showed a cancer survivor and grandmother who, allegedly, had been bashed at the hands of a freed immigration detainee who'd had his ankle monitor removed despite already facing charges for visa breaches and other offences.

This came after repeated warnings from the coalition for the government to move quickly to re-detain the highest-risk offenders. It is little wonder that the Prime Minister jettisoned the member for Hotham and the member for Scullin from the Home Affairs portfolio, after their chaotic and dysfunctional approach to Australia's immigration and border protection regime.

The member for Watson's test as the new Minister for Home Affairs was to fix this mess and restore order to our immigration system. But, evidently, he has failed too. More than 18 months after the parliament passed legislation to create the community safety order regime, the minister has still not lodged a single application for a preventive detention order, despite the member for Scullin promising in May last year that six applications were nearly ready and a further 26 were in the advanced stage of preparation. This is a shocking failure on community safety from the Albanese Labor government.

Tragically, we have seen very real consequences for this inaction. On 15 June, a 62-year-old man was, allegedly, viciously assaulted in Melbourne by an immigration detainee freed by this government. The victim died from his injuries in hospital and the perpetrator has since been charged with his murder. This terrible situation could have been avoided if the government had used its preventive detention powers to put this dangerous criminal behind bars before he had harmed an innocent Australian.

Later, in June, the Minister for Home Affairs effectively admitted he had given up on his own preventive detention regime, saying, 'No-one has come close to reaching the threshold that is in that legislation.' But instead of seeking to fix the problem by, for example, changing the law to lower this threshold, the minister has thrown up his hands and put it in the too-hard basket. I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised. When the member for Watson last held the immigration portfolio, in 2013, in just 80 days he allowed 83 boats carrying 6,634 people into our country and put 1,992 children in detention.

Things aren't looking much better this time around. The minister needs to pull his act together and use the powers the parliament gave the government to get these high-risk offenders off the streets before they commit more crimes against innocent Australians. There is no reason he can't do this at the same time he pursues avenues for deportation, like the third-country arrangements dealt with by this bill.

The need for action has never been more acute. As at 31 July, there were 354 dangerous criminals free in the community following the NZYQ decision. Of these, only 90—less than a third—are subject to electronic monitoring and only 45 individuals are subject to a specified curfew. This means that there are well over 200 dangerous criminals free in the community without ankle bracelets or curfews—basics, really. If you're letting criminals out into the community, you'd think you'd put them under some sort of surveillance—not this government; not the Albanese government. We also know, from previous evidence given by the Department of Home Affairs, that there are child sex offenders free in the community who are not subject to electronic monitoring, curfew or any form of surveillance. Because of Labor's botched legislation, multiple criminals convicted for visa breaches received suspended sentences despite the parliament legislating mandatory 12-month minimum sentences shortly after the NZYQ fiasco began. This minister is asleep at the wheel, and his negligence is putting the Australian community at risk.

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