Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. As the minister for immigration has just outlined to the parliament, last Wednesday the High Court handed down a decision which overturned a 20-year precedent which has governed how the Commonwealth deals with detaining certain noncitizens. The implication of this decision is that the Commonwealth must immediately release a set of affected individuals from immigration detention. I just want to be absolutely clear with the parliament. The Commonwealth argued against the release of these people. Some of these people have committed disgusting crimes. Some of them have hurt people who are still here in our country, and it is those victims that we care about. I can tell the parliament that there is one single focus and one single priority that we are using to manage the implications of the High Court's decision, and that is the community safety of the Australian citizens who elect us to this parliament.

To ensure that we are able to do this, we have set up a police response across the states and territories. Following the High Court's decision, the AFP commissioner briefed, in person, the police commissioner of every state and territory around the Commonwealth. On 10 November, operation AGIS, which is a joint AFP and ABF led operation, was established, which is managing the overall response, working with state and territory police. This is ensuring that, as people are released from immigration detention, they are able to be incorporated into state and territory postoffender management programs.

The parliament should know that the purpose of operation AGIS is to individually case manage every single one of these people as they are released from detention. I want to thank law enforcement and police around the country who are working with the Commonwealth government to protect community safety at this time.

The parliament has heard about the stringent visa conditions that we have put on these people—the strictest possible that are available under Australian law. What this means is that these people are restricted to certain types of employment. They must report in person to authorities—in some instances, daily. We will require continuous reporting on a range of different issues.

There is more to say about this matter, and hopefully I'll have the opportunity during question time, but I want to finish by saying that we are not going to get a lecture on managing the integrity of the migration system by the Leader of the Opposition.

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