Dan Tehan: Hapless Immigration Minister must lose his portfolio in Albo’s reshuffle
How bad do you have to be to lose your job under Anthony Albanese? Any minister with a record of consistent incompetence like Andrew Giles should be shown the door, writes Dan Tehan.
Opinion
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It’s incredible the Prime Minister has kept Andrew Giles in his job for so long given that he is widely regarded as the worst immigration minister in Australian history.
Any other minister with a record like Giles of consistent incompetence would have been shown the door.
The Prime Minister must sack Giles in the upcoming reshuffle.
Australians have paid a heavy price for Giles’ incompetence.
He is a prime example of why Australians don’t trust Labor on immigration or national security.
Giles was responsible for the botched release of 153 immigration detention detainees, including seven murderers, 37 sex offenders, and 72 violent offenders — many of whom have been subsequently charged with new offences after the High Court ordered they be freed into the community.
Giles also introduced the Ministerial Direction that allowed criminal non-citizens who should have been deported to remain in Australia. One such criminal allowed to stay was charged with has committing murder after being released.
Giles oversaw record migration of almost one million arrivals in two years, as Australians endured housing shortages, record rent increases and a cost-of-living crisis.
He was the man in charge when the asylum-seeker boats started arriving again and more than 42,500 asylum-seekers arrived by plane.
Giles skipped three important meetings with his department about the release of immigration detention detainees and instead went to events promoting the Voice and flew to the United Kingdom to attend a Labour Party conference.
He said the Labor government was using drones to monitor people in the community despite receiving clear written advice this was not the case.
Giles let important reviews gather dust on his desk but he found time to be the guest of honour at multiple fundraisers for the Dan Andrews Labor government.
Every time Giles made a mistake he disappeared into witness protection and blamed others. Giles has been missing in action for so long he’s harder to find than Where’s Wally.
He’s been a failure in the Immigration portfolio and Prime Minister Albanese must own that failure.
What is more important to the Prime Minister, the safety of Australians or looking after his factional mate?
How bad do you have to be to lose your job under Albanese?
The Prime Minister will have zero credibility if Giles is still a minister on Monday morning.
Dan Tehan is the opposition spokesman for immigration and citizenship
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