James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

My question is the Minister representing the Minister of Home Affairs, Senator Watt. During the High Court proceedings on the NZYQ case on 2 June this year Justice Gleeson strongly signalled that the court may rule against indefinite detention stating: 'It seemed to me that I ought not let this directions hearing go past without acknowledging that the purpose of his detention is for removal, and yet it seems that, on one view of the facts, capacity for removal is likely diminishing from very little to none. I draw that to your attention as a factual matter that may ultimately be relevant.' She also made other comments of a similar nature. Why did the government not immediately prepare legislation in anticipation of this likely contingency instead of waiting until dangerous criminals had already been released into the community?