Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I too stand to make a contribution on the really important Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions and Other Measures) Bill 2023 but, most particularly, to once again draw the attention of those listening in the Australian public to what an absolute shambles this government has made of the most important job that it has, and that is managing our national security and keeping Australians safe. What we've seen on complete, utter and full display over these last few weeks is the fact that this government is just not up to being a government, to keeping Australians safe or to managing our national security.

Given that Justice Gleeson belled the cat some months ago about the fact that it was highly likely that the prospects for the defendants in this case were not going to be very good, the government were caught completely flat-footed and surprised when all of a sudden they got the decision that they did. So, in a kneejerk reaction, without bothering to seek advice to understand what the actual decision of the High Court really meant and go through it to make sure that they didn't take any actions that potentially could be adverse, the government, as I said, completely wet the bed and let in excess of 100 serious criminals out into our community. A cohort that included murderers, paedophiles, rapists and even a contract killer were let free into our community.

Let's not forget that on 14 November, following the NZYQ case, Ministers O'Neil and Giles said in a joint statement that the released detainees 'have been subject to a range of strict, mandatory visa conditions'. We know that's simply not true, because all of those conditions had no means of being enforced. You can say what you like but, if you don't have the mechanism to make sure it actually happens, the conditions are not worth the paper that they're written on.

The government's incompetence continued well past this. First of all, the first duty of government is obviously to keep Australians safe. The government failed in its first attempt to put any legislation into this place, because it clearly didn't go far enough. They said that they'd never written laws that were this tough, yet within a matter of minutes, when it was drawn to their attention that there actually were a whole heap of other things that they could do that were tougher—boom, boom—those things got done. If the government had been prepared when it was told in June what was before it—that the prospects were that it would lose the High Court case—it could have taken action then. The people we're talking about now are in our community and already committing crimes, in breach of their release orders and visa conditions. They're already doing it, only a matter of minutes after they were let out of detention. The government could have prevented this happening by actually being prepared and putting in place the legislation for a preventive detention regime in the first place. This is something that the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Paterson, here in the chamber, Senator Cash and Mr Tehan, in the other place, have all been calling for—a preventive detention regime.

The other thing is that the government has been caught out not always telling the truth. We know that Minister O'Neil said that the reason they hadn't done any work in relation to being prepared for the decision when it came down was that they had advice that they would win. We know that that is absolutely not the case, because Justice Gleeson made it very clear some months ago that they should be preparing for the worst and that their prospects weren't good.

The government needs to explain, not to us in this place but to the general public, why it overreacted and released over 140 detainees, when clearly the decision applied only to the plaintiff NZYQ. The High Court's ruling—if you bother actually to analyse it—was quite narrow. We have an absolutely hopeless Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and a hopeless Minister for Home Affairs, but they need to face up to the Australian public and tell them why they released these people into the community. So far it seems to have been: 'Nothing to see here. We take no responsibility. We haven't done anything wrong.' Somehow, it's all a decision of the High Court, when the advice states that the High Court decision could quite easily have been contained to the specific circumstances of NZYQ. If it had been, many of these other offenders would not be out in our community at the moment.

It's not just the federal government who've been asleep at the wheel. Yesterday in my home state of South Australia we saw the terrible situation where a woman was sexually assaulted by one of the detainees who had been released. We've seen the South Australian Premier and the South Australian minister for police not really take responsibility. They've just said it's all the federal government's problem. Can I commend the shadow minister for police in South Australia, Sam Telfer, who has time and time again called on the South Australian government to take responsibility for the detainees that have been released into our South Australian community. Mr Telfer said in a press release that we cannot have 'a situation where hardened criminals with potentially dangerous backgrounds' that have been freed from detention 'are "just on the loose" in South Australia and the community is not told'.

The sad thing is that the South Australia community was told about it by the Herald Sun, not by their government or police agencies. We saw the following today in the Herald Sun:

Two convicted child sex abuse offenders are loose in one state after their release from immigration detention, the police have confirmed.

South Australian Assistant Commissioner of Crime John Venditto said police officers were monitoring the two registered sex offenders from a total of six former detainees now free in the state following November's High Court decision striking down indefinite detention.

"We know where they are, we visit them," the assistant commissioner said.

"We give them the conditions. We make sure they don't go near children, we make sure children don't go near them."

The revelation comes in the same week 65-year-old former detainee Aliyawar Yawari fronted Adelaide Magistrates Court facing charges he indecently assaulted a woman just three weeks after his release from detention in WA.

…   …   …

Mr Yawari was previously jailed for assaulting three elderly woman between 2013 and 2014.

It is unbelievable. The interesting thing is that the assistant police commissioner went on to say:

… South Australian police were notified when Mr Yawari entered South Australia and they received alerts from the AFP and the ABF when detainees crossed borders.

And here's what he said:

We in South Australia, visit all of them. We go face to face. We meet them. We verify their identity and welcome them to South Australia.

So my question is to the Premier, Peter Malinauskas, and the police minister, Joe Szakacs: are you welcoming these sorts of people into my home state? I would like to know if that's what you consider your duty of responsibility, in looking after the citizens of South Australia—that you 'welcome' rapists, paedophiles, murderers and even, potentially, a contract killer, should they decide to visit South Australia? You are going to welcome them into South Australia? It is quite extraordinary.

We've seen the opposition leader in South Australia, the shadow minister in South Australia, asking questions about this, and yet all we have received so far from the government have been quite flippant responses. Only last week, on 28 November, Mr Telfer, the shadow police minister, asked a question of Mr Szakacs, as the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services: 'Are there any community safety risks to South Australia due to the recent immigration detainee released by the federal government?' And guess what Mr Szakacs's response was? 'It's got nothing to do with us. It's not the fault of the federal government. It's all the High Court's decision.'

So we have a situation here where we have six detainees in South Australia—despite the fact that last Tuesday Mr Szakacs thought that there were only five—who've been released from federal detention as a result of the decision and are here in South Australia. But what Mr Szakacs went on to say—and I'll read it into Hansardin response to these questions was: 'In any case, no matter the individual, no matter the way they find themselves in South Australia'—et cetera, et cetera—'they are subject to the laws of this state. The laws of this state are applied by the South Australian police. They do so in a very profound way. They do so in a very good way. And I can give the member for Flinders and his question the assurance that the South Australian police force continues to keep our community safe, no matter who you are and which manner you find yourself in South Australia.'

Well, I'd say to you, Mr Szakacs: why don't you go and say that to the woman who was the victim of Mr Yawari's attack in South Australia? This attack has now required this detainee to be returned to detention. I would say to the South Australian government: you can't wash your hands of your responsibility for looking after Australian citizens. And, if the police minister actually thinks that it's okay to welcome these people into South Australia, and if the police minister thinks that everybody in South Australia is safe because of that, he clearly is very much mistaken, as we've seen by the terrible news reports of what happened in South Australia this week.