Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Since the minister released 149 hardcore criminals into the community there have been 27 reports of further crimes committed by them, according to AFP evidence at Senate estimates. Minister, isn't this clear proof that the minister's so-called continuous monitoring is completely ineffective at keeping Australians safe? When will the government take effective action to keep Australians safe, including obtaining community detention orders?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question, although I think I've already answered that question on previous occasions. I say again that it was a decision of the High Court that required the release of those individuals. And I say again that, in response to that, we put in place four layers of protection to keep the community safe, including, through Operation AEGIS, the capacity for state, territory and Commonwealth agencies to work together. We also, as I've discussed on many occasions, as one of those levels of protection, put in place a legal regime to enable preventative detention applications. Those applications, I can assure the House, are underway, noting the concerns that have been expressed, including by the member for Wannon, about the high threshold that is required to succeed in such an application.