House debates Questions without Notice
Immigration Detention
Sussan Ley Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women
2:21 pm
My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. The minister advised the House in relation to the 149 criminals released from immigration detention that each one of them is being continuously monitored. But we now know that the minister has exempted 36 of them from continuous ankle monitoring. On what basis did the minister claim they are being continuously monitored? Why did the minister mislead the House?
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Members:
Honourable members interjecting—
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Speaker, the last part of that question should be withdrawn. That's an allegation that can only be made by substantive motion.
Milton Dick Speaker
We're going to rule that part out. If the shadow minister, or deputy, believes that's the case, she can state the question 'has the minister', not just simply state the question.
Andrew Giles Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs
2:22 pm
I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for her question. As I just said to the question asked by the member for Wannon, because of the entirety of the four layers of protection, at least one of which applies to every member of the cohort—strict visa conditions, which include, of course, reporting requirements, as you would be well aware, as well as electronic monitoring for the majority and curfews for many—the location of every individual in this cohort is known.