Labor limits detainee updates to monthly report, Opposition accuses government of cover up

Labor has been criticised after refusing to reveal if more convicted criminals have been released from immigration detention over the summer.

Anthony Albanese has refused to say if more detainees were released from immigration detention over the summer, arguing the information will be publicly available at the “appropriate time”.

Labor has been accused of an “outrageous cover up” after refusing to reveal if more convicted criminals have been released from immigration detention over the summer.

The Daily Telegraph aso revealed the federal government will no longer alert the community if former detainees commit any state-level crimes, instead leaving arrest updates to local police.

The Prime Minister denied Labor had changed how it would report on immigration detainees released following a High Court ruling last year, despite the ABF no longer providing updates.

“There’s been no change whatsoever in any of the information which is going out from that when Peter Dutton was the Home Affairs Minister,” Mr Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to say if more detainees were released from detention over teh summer. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Asked repeatedly how many people had been released, the PM declined to provide a number.

“The federal department provide the information at the appropriate time in the same way that they always have,” he said.

On December 7 the Australian Border Force released an update confirming 149 individuals had been released from detention.

While on January 8, ABF said in a statement “a number” of people had been released, declining to provide a specific figure.

Instead the number will only be provided in a monthly immigration report, of which the December edition is not due for two months.

Asked if more than seven former detainees had been charged with reoffending since their release, Mr Albanese said “not to my knowledge”.

“If someone commits a breach of a Commonwealth law, then it will be released in a transparent way, in the normal way,” he said.

“If someone breaches a state law, then the states are responsible for that in the normal way.”

Previously under Operation Aegis, which was established in November to respond to the High Court ruled against indefinite detention in the NZYQ case, information about detainees subsequently released was reported by Australian Border Force.

At least 149 former detainees were freed as of December 4 according to the ABF, but Australians will have to wait up to two months to learn if more are now in the community after Labor decided future updates would be limited to an existing monthly immigration detention report.

The most recent edition of that report covering the month of October was only published in late December.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles oversees the monthly immigration detention report. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images for Cricket Australia

The Australian Federal Police will continue to report cases of detainees committing Commonwealth offences, including failing to follow strict visa conditions.

Four of the released detainees have been charged for visa breaches to date.

At least three detainees have been charged with state offences, including separately for indecent assault, drug possession and breaching registered child sex offender restrictions.

Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson has accused Labor of a ‘cover up’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said delaying information to a monthly report demonstrated a “total contempt for transparency” from Labor.

“It’s appalling they think they can now keep the public in the dark about how many foreign criminals they are releasing into the community and how many have reoffended against Australians,” he said.

Mr Paterson said Anthony Albanese should “immediately overrule whoever made this secret decision” to stop the ABF providing Operation Aegis updates.

A government spokeswoman said the system of reporting information about immigration detainees “remains the same” as under the former Coalition government.

“Operational updates, such as arrests of breaches under Commonwealth law, will continue to be provided by the AFP,” she said.

“Information on breaches of state and territory law will be provided by state and territory authorities, as per usual.

“If the Opposition don’t have faith in our law enforcement and security agencies- it’s up to them to justify why.”

At least 149 people have been released from immigration detention since the High Court ruling in November. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Labor has also declined to reveal how many, if any, applications the government has made under new preventive detention laws to lock high risk offenders within the cohort back up.

“The government will not do anything that may put community safety at risk, including speculating on applications before the court, which may prejudice the outcome,” the spokeswoman said.

But the Coalition argued applications to a court are public and would disclosure would not be a risk.

Labor also declined to answer how many times its Community Safety Board, which was created to individually assess the released detainees, had gathered since its first meeting in December.

In November Labor committed $255 million to boost Operation Aegis, including $150m for the ABF and Home Affairs Department to better co-ordinate monitoring high risk individuals and increase the number of compliance and investigations officers.