Pique incompetence: no apology, no regret from Labor ministers amid fourth detainee arrest
A political row erupts over whether the government should apologise to victims of dangerous non-citizens released into the community, as new preventative detention laws pass parliament.
The passage of Labor’s preventative detention regime has been marred by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’ claim it was “absurd” for the government to be asked to apologise to Australians harmed by dangerous non-citizens released into the community.
Mr Dreyfus repeatedly said on Wednesday that he would not apologise for abiding by the High Court’s landmark “NZYQ” ruling in November, and rejected Coalition arguments that Labor was not legally required to release as many detainees as the 148 they had so far.
The defence came as a 45-year-old Sudanese-born man, Abdelmoez Mohamed Elawad, became the fourth former detainee to be arrested since the High Court ruling, with the Australian Federal Police charging him with a failure to comply with his curfew and one count of theft for attempting to steal luggage from a sleeping traveller at Melbourne Airport.
He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday afternoon.
The arrest followed that of pedophile, 33-year-old Emran Dad, for allegedly making contact with a juvenile in southeast Melbourne and known sex offender, 65-year-old Aliyawar Yawari, for allegedly indecently assaulting a woman in a motel in Adelaide.
Mohammed Ali Nadari, a 45-year-old man with an extensive criminal history, was also found guilty for drug possession in Western Sydney on Monday – with all four individuals having been released from indefinite detention within the past month because of the High Court’s ruling.
The government’s preventative detention laws passed the parliament on Wednesday night.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles called the new regime “robust” as well as “considered, measured and responsible”.
“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.
“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.”
While the Coalition was planning to move a “transparency amendment” to provide the public with more information about detainees released into the community, it had also resolved to support the bill if its changes were defeated.
Labor’s new citizenship laws also passed through the parliament on Wednesday, enabling the home affairs minister to make an application requesting a court cancel a dual citizen’s Australian citizenship when that person had been convicted of a serious offence.
Peter Dutton told Sky News on Wednesday that he thought more detainees would be arrested, and defended the opposition for suggesting the government did not need to release as many dangerous non-citizens into the community as it had.
“The (Immigration) Minister has made a decision to release these individuals. It was unnecessary, and it has resulted in harm to the Australian community,” the Opposition Leader said. “The High Court found in relation to one case. It didn’t find in relation to other cases.”
Mr Dutton also accused Anthony Albanese of having “gone to ground”. “He won’t do press conferences. He won’t answer questions in relation to these issues,” he said.
“This is a government that’s rattled. The wheels are coming off. And this is a weak and woke Prime Minister who won’t stand up for Australia’s best interests.”
But Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil hit back at the argument the government had needlessly released dangerous non-citizens into the community, saying the claim was “garbage and lies”.
Mr Dreyfus said the High Court decision had set a “new limit on the power to detain anyone in the same position as the plaintiff (NZYQ) in that case”.
“And it had to be implemented immediately,” he said. “Any delay on the part of the government in releasing such a person would expose the commonwealth officials concerned to personal liability for false imprisonment.”
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government’s proposed preventative detention regime would allow for a court to detain the worst of the released detainees upon receiving an application from him as the relevant minister. But he was unable to say how many detainees he would make applications for, or whether it was likely many individuals would be re-detained.
“We’ve already begun working through the worst offenders to make sure that we can do everything we can to keep the community safe,” he said. “The legislation that I hope will be passed … this afternoon requires me to make an individual assessment before each application. I cannot pre-empt that,” he said.
Mr Giles said he was working “very closely with the states” which will have a role in upholding the preventative detention laws, with national cabinet receiving a briefing from Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Reece Kershaw, and Acting Australian Border Force Commissioner Kaylene Zakharoff.
Pressed on whether the government owed an apology to those in the community that had been “subjected to misdeeds” by some of the released detainees – including a woman who was allegedly indecently assaulted in an Adelaide motel – Mr Dreyfus said it was “an absurd question”.
“You are asking a cabinet minister, three ministers of the crown, to apologise for upholding the law of Australia,” he said. “I will not be apologising for upholding the law. I will not be apologising for pursuing the rule of law. And I will not be apologising for acting – do not interrupt – I will not be apologising for acting in accordance with a High Court decision.”
Pressed on the comments made Mr Dreyfus, Labor Senate leader Penny Wong later told the upper house there were times when people “behave in ways which perhaps in hindsight they might think was unwise – and certainly there’s been a fair degree of shouting and aggression at times in this chamber”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers also said he thought Mr Dreyfus was “just reflecting the frustration that the whole parliament feels about the cards we’ve been dealt when it comes to the High Court decision”.
Mr Dutton said he thought the response from Mr Dreyfus was “outrageous” and “demonstrated to me a man who was under great pressure”. And opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said Mr Dreyfus’ comments revealed the Attorney-General had a “clear lack of understanding as to how catastrophic the failure has been of the Albanese government in keeping the Australian community safe”.
“He should have said sorry. And Minister Giles and Minister O’Neil should have resigned earlier this week,” Mr Tehan said.
“I once again call on Prime Minister Albanese to show some leadership … and pull the Attorney-General into line.”
