There have been no cases which have met the very high threshold for locking up these release detainees, but it seems that we’ll see no more work done by the Albanese government on this. That’s despite the danger that is faced by the public when those immigration detainees who commit serious crimes stay on our streets. Instead, we’re told that the government will look at the deportation and third country resettlement for individuals on visas who have broken Australian laws. Good luck finding a national that’ll take them. Senator Paul Scarr is the shadow Immigration Minister, he is on the line with me now. Senator, good morning to you.
Senator Scarr
Good to be with you, Mark, and this is a shocking state of affairs.
Mark Levy
Oh, it certainly is. And I’ve got to agree with the comment that’s been made by your colleague, Andrew Hastie, this is an admission from Tony Burke of a catastrophic failure,
Senator Scarr
Absolutely. And it’s a stunning admission when the legislation was brought in, albeit in a great rush after the NZYQ high court case, the parliament was presented with 116 page bill, and I’ve got it here in front of me that included preventative detention measures, and the government said, This is what they said. Mark in total, four layers of protection have been established to keep Australians safe. Then list the four, number one, preventative detention, and then 18 months later, we’ve got the minister saying, well, we just can’t meet the relevant thresholds, and that’s coming out 18 months after the bill was passed and without a single application having been made to the court. So these laws, these specific laws in this bill, haven’t even been tested in the court.
Mark Levy
And we’re talking about a cohort this, NZYQ cohort. 12 murderers are attempted murderers, 66 sector sex offenders, 97 people convicted of assault and what? 15 domestic violence perpetrators. And the government turns around and says, Sorry, nothing we can do about it.
Senator Scarr
Absolutely. And I must emphasize this, these are serious, violent and serious sexual offenders who are not Australian citizens, and the only reason they’re still in this country is because of various reasons. They can’t be returned to their country of origin. And you also make the very valid point, what happens if a third country, if eventually we get to the position where no third country will take these people. What happens then? What’s the government’s answer to that? We don’t have any answers to these questions.
Mark Levy
28 former immigration detainees have been charged with federal offenses since the reissuing of bridging visas in 2024 there’s, there’s clearly a problem. And look, admittedly, this now has become the issue for Tony Burke to address, but this dates back to the appalling handling of immigration under the previous minister in Andrew Giles. Do you agree?
Senator Scarr
Oh, absolutely. And the previous minister was caught absolutely flat footed when the High Court brought down that NZYQ case. So we then had this 116 page bill rushed into parliament in good faith, the opposition supported the bill, working constructively with the government to keep Australians safe. But now we find one of the key pillars of that bill, the ability of the government to apply for preventative detention orders. The government itself, who drafted those those provisions, are saying they can’t make an application because they can’t meet the relevant threshold under the legislation. It’s absolutely shocking. For 18 months Mark, we had asked questions of the department, when are you goingto make the first application for a preventative detention order? The department kept telling us, we’re working on it. We’re getting the evidence. It’s complicated. 18 months we waited, and then yesterday, we get this flippant remark from the minister saying, well, we just can’t meet the relevant threshold. It’s the first time we’ve learned of it. Stunning admission.
Mark Levy
What is the threshold? I mean, I would have thought some of these violent offenders when I talk about murderers, and, you know, accused murderers, all those sorts of things. You have a look at what’s happened recently, allegedly with this Melbourne photographer being assaulted and killed by one of these immigration detainees. I mean, but what’s the threshold that’s got to be met for these people to be locked up?
Senator Scarr
Well, the threshold under the legislation relates to the probability of them actually committing a further offense. So there’s a process for evidence to be tendered to the court. You can get evidence from experts, psychologists, you can look at the rehabilitation background, etc, and then the court is to make an assessment with respect to the probability of the risk of reoffending. But we don’t know how it will work in practice, because the government hasn’t made a single application. So Tony Burke is throwing his arms up in the air without the government having made a single application under these provisions to test these laws.
Mark Levy
And it’s a bit rich for the government to be pointing the finger at the High Court. And you know, there’ll be some people out there saying, Oh, well, the high court’s ruled on this, and that threshold has got to be met, but it should never have got this far. It was a complete stuff up by Giles and previous ministers, and it’s just been allowed to continue this time under Tony Burke,
Senator Scarr
absolutely I was Mark. I was at a community event yesterday, and I heard the Minister’s comments. I was absolutely gobsmacked. It was totally unexpected, and the minister’s come out and made this admission that the government’s own laws do not work. It is a stunning admission, and just another failure in this just shambolic situation.
Mark Levy
All right, given you’ve got the got it in front of you, and you’ve obviously watched this fairly closely, how do we fix it? How can the government address this? Because, well, we’d no doubt have people listening to us across Australia, Senator who’ll be saying, I could have one of these low lives living next to me. I don’t want to be living in fear because of what might happen to me as a result of these convicted offenders who have been allowed free because of this ruling of the High Court. So how do we fix it? Is there a simple way to fix it?
Senator Scarr
Well, it’s not necessarily simple, but we stand ready, willing and able to work with the government to go through every line in this legislation and come up with a system that works and is going to be effective to protect the Australian people. And that’s the work that needs to be done. That’s the hard work that needs to be done, because community safety must be paramount, and we stand ready, willing and able to work with the government in that regard.
Mark Levy
Well, I would have thought the community safety of the people of this country who are here legally, and those people who were born in this country should be paramounted at the forefront of the minds of those within the Albanese Government, namely the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke. You can’t just put it in the too hard basket. You’ve got to come up with a way in which these people can be locked up the preventative detention measures that were supposed to be in place from the first place anyway, Senator, I’ll let you get back to it. If there’s any more on it, you let us know. But this is something that we’ve been talking about for a little while, and as you can appreciate, when I read that story this morning, I thought, really, we’re now just going to say what? Nothing we can do that’s simply not good enough. Appreciate your time as always.
Senator Scarr
Thank you.
