Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus apologises to journalist Olivia Caisley as fifth detainee arrested
Parliament has heard the Attorney-General has apologised to a female journalist he snapped at in response to questions on the growing detainee debacle. It comes as a fifth person released from detention was arrested.
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Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has privately apologised to a female journalist after shouting and pointing at her during a heated press conference.
In Question Time on Thursday, Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese if Mr Dreyfus had apologised to Sky News journalist Olivia Caisley following the Wednesday morning press conference.
Mr Albanese said the pair had spoken and Mr Dreyfus has apologised.
Mr Albanese said it was not the “standard” of conduct expected in parliament.
Mr Dreyfus attacked Ms Caisley’s question about Labor’s handling of the rolling immigration detainee saga as “absurd” and chastised her for interrupting his response.
Ms Caisley had asked if Labor should apologise to the Australians allegedly harmed by the previously convicted asylum seekers who had reoffended since being released from immigration detention.
Ms Ley asked the Prime Minister during Question Time on Thursday if he had “forced” Mr Dreyfus to apologise for his “aggressive verbal attack” on Wednesday.
“The Attorney-General has my understanding spoken to the journalist concerned, has apologised, has had a discussion with (the journalist),” he said.
“When our standards aren’t met in this place, that we expect, that’s the appropriate course of action to take.”
Ms Ley had previously called for Mr Dreyfus to apologise for shouting down “legitimate questions from a capable and effective young woman in the Press Gallery.”
“It’s behaviour that is disgraceful. It is not acceptable. It shouldn’t happen, particularly as the first law officer of this land should not be shouting, raising his voice and speaking in such a derogatory tone” Ms Ley said on Wednesday.
Speaking after the exchange, Ms Caisley said her question evidently “got under the skin” of Mr Dreyfus.
“The Albanese government are under intense pressure over this High Court decision that’s seen the release of more than 140 individuals, including convicted criminals released into the community,” she said.
“This political firestorm has intensified over the weekend.”
FIFTH DETAINEE ARRESTED
It comes as a former Sudanese child soldier has become the fifth person released from immigration detention arrested less than a month since walking free after police connected him to an outstanding warrant.
The now stateless man, William Yekrop, was picked up by police in Queensland on Thursday after it was realised there was a warrant to return to jail for allegedly breaching his parole conditions prior to being placed in immigration detention in 2012.
Yekrop was one of 148 people allowed into the community after the High Court ruled it was unlawful for the federal government to indefinitely detain non-citizens who had served their sentences and had no realistic prospect of deportation or resettlement.
It is understood he was originally released without any checks for any return to prison warrants standing against him.
Yekrop was arrested in Brisbane on a revocation of parole warrant in NSW, which dated back to 2011.
After finishing his sentence for assault, actual bodily harm, he was paroled during which time he allegedly committed parole breaches.
But before he was returned to prison for those breaches, he was sent to immigration detention.
It is expected he will face court in Queensland today, ahead of a return to jail in NSW.
A former child soldier who was granted asylum in Australia in 2003 after years spent in a refugee camp in Egypt, Yekrop has previously told reporters he struggled to deal with the trauma of his early life and turned to drugs and alcohol.
While living in Australia, he was caught drunk driving twice and jailed for 12-months.
As a result his visa was cancelled on character grounds in 2012 and he was placed in immigration detention as a non-citizen in May 2014.
Yekrop is stateless having left South Sudan before the war-torn country became independent, he was granted asylum and has maintained he is unable to return
RE-DETENTION LAWS PASSED AS FOURTH DETAINEE CHARGED
Amended migration laws to put high risk immigration detainees released under the High Court decision back in detention have passed in a late night session at federal parliament, hours after a fourth detainee was charged.
The bill, set up to deal with freed detainees who pose an unacceptable risk of committing a serious violent or sexual offence, were passed in the House of Representatives about 10pm.
Under the laws, released detainees assessed by a court to pose an unacceptable risk would be put back behind bars for up to three years, but each detainee’s detention order would be reviewed each year.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles called move “considered, measured and responsible” following the High Court’s ruling.
“This bill proposes important amendments to the migration act that complement and reinforce amendments passed by the Parliament on 18 November, 2023. On the 8th of November, in NZYQ case, the High Court determined that NZYQ’s detention was unlawful and I quote ‘by reason of their having been and continuing to be no real prospect of the removal of the plaintiff from Australia in the reasonably foreseeable future’,” Mr Giles said in parliament.
“This is the reality of the High Court’s decision, the government did not choose to be in this position. This situation was imposed on us and this parliament by the high court. Nonetheless since the High Court’s decision we have taken swift action to deal with the court’s requirement to release detainees.”It comes after a fourth man of the 148 detainees released from immigration detention was charged after breaching curfew conditions and allegedly stealing luggage at an airport.
Sudanese-born Abdelmoex Mohamed Elawad, 45, was arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police after officers located him at a Melbourne hotel on Wednesday.
Police allege Elawad breached conditions of his Commonwealth visa on 1 December, by failing to observe his residential curfew obligations.
It is also alleged Elawad went to Melbourne Airport, where he stole luggage from a traveller who was asleep in the terminal.
He has been charged with one count of theft, an offence that carries up to 10 years imprisonment, and one count of fail to comply with a curfew condition, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine.
Elawad was due to face a Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
It comes as Labor cannot say how many released immigration detainees will be put back in jail under new laws, as an enraged Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus lashed out refusing to apologise for how the saga has been handled.
Under pressure to assure the community’s safety after three detainees allegedly reoffended in the weeks since walking free, Mr Dreyfus unleashed on Sky News journalist Olivia Caisley after she asked if Labor owed an apology to the alleged victims, dismissing her question as “absurd”.
“You are asking a cabinet minister, three ministers of the Crown, to apologise for upholding the law of Australia,” he said, before snapping at Ms Caisely “do not interrupt” as she attempted to follow up her question.
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley described the outburst as “totally inapprioriate” noting Mr Dreyfus didn’t react in the same way when male journalists asked tough questions.
The federal government will not reveal how many of the 148 non-citizens released following a High Court ruling last month it would seek to lock up under new preventative detention measures passed by the parliament on Wednesday.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government was already preparing to apply to the courts to redetain individuals deemed to be a high risk of reoffending, but would not reveal how many people it was seeking to lock up.
“We’ve already begun preparations to ensure that we can do all that we can as quickly as we can,” he said.
Mr Giles also declined to reveal how many of the cohort were even eligible for a preventative detention order of three years in a state prison, reviewed annually, as the new measures will only apply to former detainees who had been convicted of an offence that carried an Australian prison sentence of seven years or more.
“We’re working through that (number) at the moment,” he said.
The Coalition said the lack of transparency amounted to an admission it was likely very few of the released detainees would be put back in jail.
“The regime that the government’s providing might have application to two or three or four people,” Opposition leader Peter Dutton said.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil rejected suggestions the government’s response to the deepening crisis had been slow and its communication with the public poor.
“There is concern in the community about safety, and that concerns well founded because of what we saw happen in previous days,” she said.
“That is why every single moment of every single day since this High Court decision, and indeed before it, the government has been trying to find solutions to keep the community safe.”
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