Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

():  Yes, the motion is seconded. The No. 1 priority of any government is to keep its citizens safe. We asked today three very simple questions of the minister for immigration. The first one was:

Can the minister advise the House whether any of the 81 hardcore criminals released into the community following the High Court's decision last week were released into the community without a visa?

No answer. The second one we asked was:

The ABC has just reported that following the High Court decision the government released some of the 80 hardened criminals—including murderers, rapists and child sex offenders—into the community without a visa. Is this true?

The minister refused to answer. We then asked:

How many hardcore criminals released from detention got a letter from the Department of Home Affairs which said they were being released as an unlawful noncitizen?

No answer.

What the minister has confirmed is that at least 12 of those detainees were released into the community without visas, and that goes against the assurances he gave to the Australian public on the weekend. This is what he said on the weekend:

Individuals who are required to be released as a result of the High Court's order will have appropriate visa conditions imposed on them in line with the need to protect the community.

That did not happen. The ABC has reported—you would not confirm it; you would not deny it—that people were released into the community without visas.

Minister, you said yesterday that you would stand up in this parliament or you would tell the Australian people how many of those hardcore criminals were rapists, were child sex offenders, were murderers. You haven't provided that information to the Australian public.

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