‘Weak’ Anthony Albanese must stop passing buck on detainee: Liberals

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham blasts Labor’s ‘lack of accountability’ as PM blames protection board and prosecutors for failures on detainees’ bail and monitoring.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the bail decision was made “independently” by the Director of Public Prosecutions and Australian Federal Police, and he was also “upset” about the choice.

Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham says “the buck stops” with Anthony Albanese when delegating responsibility for the bungle that resulted in an elderly Perth woman allegedly being bashed by a freed immigration detainee.

“If you look at the Prime Minister’s remarks, he seems to be completely washing his hands and those of his ministers of any responsibility at all, it’s all somebody else’s fault,” Mr Birmingham said today, shortly after Mr Albanese conceded the federal Community Protection Board had made the “wrong decision” when it agreed a freed detainee could remove his ankle monitor months before he allegedly bashed grandmother Ninette Simons and tied up her husband during a home invasion.

“It was the court’s fault, they argued that for days, and now it’s the Advisory Board – established by the Albanese government,” Mr Birmingham told Sky News.

“He’s not accepting any responsibility for the way his government has handled these matters – the Prime Minister’s comments today will be seen by many, not least of whom the victims of these released detainees, but by many others across the community to be woefully inaccurate and terribly weak and lacking in accountability.

“The Prime Minister needs to acknowledge that the buck stops with him, with his government and in particular with his minister.

Perth grandother Ninette Simons was the victim of an assault and burglary in the Perth suburb of Girrawheen. Picture: WA Police

“He needs to stop running some kind of witness protection scheme for (Minister) Andrew Giles – it’s the Australian community who need protection, not an Albanese government minister.”

He said there were many questions that had been left unanswered about the government’s level of engagement in the court decision that led to the detainees being released.

“Despite the government spending much of this week saying that they had opposed bail and not supported bail, the reality is that the judge was very, very clear that the only reason the judge was considering bail is because lawyers for the federal government were supporting bail,” Mr Birmingham said.

“It comes down to the types of operational protocols that the government has or hasn’t established.

“That’s why having Andrew Giles come out and answer questions rather than hide away in his office would be very helpful, because this is clearly a very sensitive matter.

“There have been plenty of issues that have come along the way, plenty of missteps made by the government – you’d think that in a case of such high sensitivity there would be the highest levels of engagement by government, where appropriate, in relation to any decision being made.

“Andrew Giles needs to be clear and come out about what he knew, how much engagement his office had in this case but also why they’ve set up protocols in different ways.”

The government set up the Community Protection Board last December to oversee the management of immigration detainees released under the High Court’s NZYQ decision.

Mr Albanese said Kuwait-born Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, who was arrested on Sunday in relation to the alleged violent home invasion, wouldn’t have been granted bail if it was up to him.

Doukoshkan fronted court three times in the lead up to the alleged assault on 73-year-old Ninette Simons, including on commonwealth charges for breaching his visa conditions. In that matter bail was not opposed by the commonwealth.

Mr Albanese said the bail decision was made “independently” by the Director of Public Prosecutions and Australian Federal Police, and he was also “upset” about the choice.

“They make the decisions independent,” he said. “One of the things that we have in this country is a separation there.

“And look, the whole NZYQ case was something that we opposed, that decision of the High Court,’’ the Prime Minister said.

“The government has had to deal with the implications of that and the results of that.”

The Prime Minister agreed the decision was a failure, while seeking to distance himself from the board of senior law enforcement figures appointed by his government.

“I think that’s a wrong decision by that board, but they make the decisions,” he told Channel 7’s Sunrise this morning.

Senator Simon Birmingham has called Anthony Albanese’s response ‘weak’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten also slammed commonwealth prosecutors.

Mr Shorten questioned “why on earth” prosecutors decided not to argue against Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan’s release when he fronted court on charges of breaching his visa conditions on February 20.

The prosecutor warned a Perth court that Doukoshkan was a risk of reoffending again but did not oppose bail, a transcript of the hearing reveals.

“I honestly don’t know why the federal prosecutor – who admittedly is independent, so I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this – but why on earth didn’t the federal prosecutor oppose bail?,” he told Channel Nine’s Today.

Mr Shorten sought to lay the blame for the decision to remove Doukoshkan’s ankle monitor months before the assault, but conceded it had been a “mistake” made by the Community Protection Board.

“So, we set up a community protection board,” he said.

“They made a decision to not put an ankle bracelet on this fellow, because previously he hadn’t shown any crimes of violence.

“But again, I agree with probably what most viewers would think, that that is a mistake.”