Number of days since Andrew Giles’ last blunder: zero

Andrew Giles admits he was wrong to say detainees were monitored by drones, as it emerged NZ diplomats were constantly approaching Home Affairs officials to influence Direction 99.

Under attack a second week… Immigration Minister Andrew Giles in Question time on Monday. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has admitted he falsely claimed criminals released from detention were being monitored by drones, as it emerged New Zealand diplomats were repeatedly approaching Home Affairs officials to influence his ill-fated Ministerial Direction 99.

As Anthony Albanese’s close factional ally faces another week of parliament dominated by ­questions over whether he can politically survive, Mr Giles escalated his attempts to blame his department officials for his mistakes and suggested they had told him detainees released last year under the High Court’s NZYQ ruling were being checked by drones.

It is the second time in the past week Mr Giles has shifted blame to Home Affairs officials on detainees, after previously accusing them for not warning about the dozens of rapists, domestic violence offenders and other criminals who overturned their deportations as a result of his own ministerial direction.

Mr Giles last week claimed in a Sky News interview – when quizzed on revelations two murderers and 26 sex ­offenders released ­because of the NZYQ ruling were not wearing ankle monitors – that the government was “using drones to keep track of these people”.

On Monday, he told parliament: “I relied on information provided by my department at the time which has since … been ­clarified.”

A Labor government spokeswoman said on Monday the Immigration Minister was set to unveil a replacement for Direction 99 by the end of the week.

Labor’s detainees crisis deepens as questions grow over how Mr Giles’s catastrophic push to allow more leniency for foreign-born criminals was influenced by considerable pressure from Wellington to stem the flow of deported criminals across the Tasman Sea.

The Australian can reveal that discussions between Home Affairs officials and diplomats from New Zealand’s High Commission in Canberra escalated after a July 2022 meeting between Mr Albanese and then NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern led to the creation of Direction 99. It is understood NZ officials had regularly been raising concerns with the Department of Home ­Affairs in almost monthly meetings about the high number of ­deportees under the previous ­Coalition government. After the Albanese-Ardern 2022 meeting, New Zealand made more regular requests for meetings and information from Home Affairs immigration ­officials over the progression of Direction 99 including, when the new arrangements would come into effect.

A spokesman for the NZ High Commission said on Monday it was unable to respond to questions about these meetings as it was a public holiday in New Zealand for the King’s birthday.

The Australian revealed last week that Home Affairs highlighted NZ government sensitivities as one of Direction 99’s risks in a submission to Mr Giles in December 2022. Mr Giles’s office did not ­respond by the time of publishing to The Australian’s ­questions about how often NZ officials had been meeting Australian immigration officials or how often he had met with them himself.

When asked in question time on Monday if he had taken any ­direction from Mr Albanese as a result of the Prime Minister’s talks with Ms Ardern, Mr Giles said: “What I can say is that I did the work for Ministerial Direction 99 with my office in our national interest.”

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan ramped up pressure on Mr Giles to resign over last week’s incorrect drones claim, which was undermined by Australian Federal Police evidence ­during Senate estimates on Friday, forcing Mr Giles to ­concede his error on Monday

Mr Tehan called on Anthony Albanese to take action.

“Andrew Giles continues to throw his department under the bus rather than take responsibility for his own words, he needs to provide the advice that he says was erroneous and led to him stating that drones were monitoring detainees,” Mr Tehan said.

“If he can’t release that advice then once again serious questions need to be asked about his incompetence, and the Prime Minister has to ask himself, when does such gross incompetence need to lead to the minister being sacked?”

Mr Giles said he had cancelled visas of 30 non-citizens with serious criminal convictions, including rapists and pedophiles, who The Australian revealed had been allowed to remain in the country because of Direction 99. A spokeswoman for Mr Giles said the cases included that of an Iraqi man found guilty of having sexual ­intercourse with a mentally impaired 15-year-old.

The man’s visa cancellation was overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last week, after The Australian began a series of reports revealing the consequences of Direction 99, which elevated the importance of a person’s ties to Australia as a primary consideration.

The man, known as PHGY, who was also convicted over two counts of sexual touching a child between the age of 10 and 16, had his deportation halted by AAT member Rob Reitano on May 28, because he had three young daughters who were Australian citizens.

The refugee visa holder met the victim in a pizza shop before the assault took place, and later sought to “cast responsibility” on the victim and claimed he did not know it was illegal to have sex with a child. Mr Reitano’s decision said that while the protection of the community supported upholding the visa cancellation, his ties outweighed these concerns.

“This decision of the AAT was clearly not in line with community expectations,” Mr Giles’s spokeswoman said. “The minister has cancelled his visa in the national interest.”