Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On 16 November in this place, the minister committed to the House that his department would make contact with all who had been victims of the criminals released from immigration detention by the government. Has the government now contacted all of the victims of the crimes committed by the 149 criminals it released from immigration detention?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I can assure him that my thoughts and, I'm sure, the thoughts of all members of this House are with those affected by the crimes of those who were detained and who were required to be released by reason of the order of the court. In the time following the High Court's decision, the department put in place a mechanism that would enable victims to be contacted. Obviously, there are some issues around personal privacy and other questions that need to be addressed in that, but it was very important that we put in place such a mechanism.