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

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. The Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue, told the High Court on 8 November 2023 that up to 340 people in long-term detention could be released as a result of the NZYQ case. Is that the number of criminals that the government expects to release, as referred to in its secret briefing to journalists on Friday?

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. Members on my right will cease interjecting. The question was asked in silence.

Order! The member for Lyons will cease interjecting. There are to be no interjections before I call the minister.

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

I really do thank the shadow minister for this question and for his apparent new-found interest in legal matters, because today it's now 105 days since we offered a legal briefing on the issues going before this—105 days, and we are still counting. At the time that briefing was originally offered, they were too busy, to be fair. One of the shadow ministers was at Harvard on a study tour, another one just could not escape the Sky studios, and another was at the races. As for the 104 days since then, I really don't know what they have been doing, except we can only infer—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause.

Opposition members interjecting—

Members on my left will cease interjecting. I want to hear from the member for Wannon on a point of order.

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

Relevance. The question was about how many more hardcore criminals you're going to release. Is it—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat.

Honourable members interjecting—

Order! There's far too much noise. The minister has the call.

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

He seems very well acquainted with this secret briefing! I would encourage him to be briefed on the real legal issues going to these issues so that he can make a constructive contribution to community safety. The fact that he chooses not to do so is frankly inexplicable, other than if he wants to retain some licence to free-range on issues that he knows he is in the wrong on. I can't get into the details of cases that are before the High Court, and I won't. But I will say this: the government believes that these individuals—those who are not cooperating with their removal—should be removed from Australia as a priority. While they are not, they should remain in immigration detention. This is a position we successfully defended before the Federal Court, and we will be vigorously defending this position before the High Court.