Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On 13 February, following the release of 149 hard-core criminals, the minister told the house, 'Each one of them is being continuously monitored.' He said all individuals in the cohort were being continuously monitored. Minister, 153 criminals have now been released, and it's been revealed that more than half of them are not wearing a monitoring device—

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

Order! The member will begin her question again. The Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, I can't hear what the question is because you are continually interjecting. Out of courtesy and respect for the member for Moncrieff, she will begin her question again, and we will reset the clock, so that I can hear the question.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On 13 February, following the release of 149 hard-core criminals, the minister told the House, 'Each one of them is being continuously monitored.' He said that all individuals in the cohort were being continuously monitored. Minister, 153 criminals have now been released, and it's been revealed that more than half of them are not wearing a monitoring device. How else are they being continuously monitored?

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 Moncrieff for her question. We, on this side of the House, remember that it was the Leader of the Opposition's delegate that let someone out of immigration detention and gave him a visa. There was no monitoring, no reporting and no conditions. That person went on, allegedly, to commit an attack. He's been strangely silent about this, hasn't he? He's got a lot to say about others but very little to say about his own record.

We are not interested in playing politics with this issue. We are interested in community safety, and I'd refer the honourable member to the evidence given in Senate estimates by the ABF, who corresponded what we have done in terms of community safety. A quarter of a billion dollars has been invested to support our strong laws. We have Operation AEGIS in place to bring together state and territory law enforcement officials, and, as he said, we know where all these people are.