The Immigration Minister has accused his opposition counterpart of favouring “fear to fact every time”, as the Coalition piles pressure on the government over immigration detention.
As the fallout from last year’s landmark NZYQ decision continues, opposition immigration minister Dan Tehan on Monday morning claimed another 150 “hardened criminals” could be released into the community if the government lost its next High Court challenge.
During Question Time, Mr Tehan asked how many more “foreign criminals” the government expected to be released into the community from a custodial sentence over the next six months.
Mr Giles repeated that the government had argued against the High Court’s decision.
“What this question shows is exactly why the shadow ministers uninterested in the legal briefing because he prefers fear factor. Fear to fact every time,” Mr Giles said.
“He well understands the issues he would be briefed on and that is why he is choosing not to be briefed by me.”
In November, the full court agreed with the stateless Rohingya man, known as NZYQ, that ongoing immigration detention without prospect of deportation was unlawful. It’s since prompted the release of 149 people.
The government late last week conceded that Australia was in a period of “uncertainty” where “new boundaries” were being drawn around the government’s powers.
A new challenge will come next month when an Iranian detainee who has refused to return to his birth country out of fear of persecution for his sexuality will fight to remain in Australia.
Mr Giles said the federal government would fight the release of more detainees by mounting a new defence in the High Court against asylum seekers who refuse to co-operate with authorities.
After another question from Mr Tehan about the number of additional detainees that could be released going forward, Mr Giles said the govermnnet would be “vigorously defending” its position that individuals not cooperating with their removal “be removed as a pririty”.
“And if, while they are not, they should remain in immigration detention,” he sadi.
Mr Tehan had earlier said he had been advised by government lawyers “there is the potential for another 100 to 150 hardened criminals to be released into the community” if the High Court went the Iranian’s way.
“That means there would be up to 300 hardened criminals released into the community, so that is our understanding, between 100 to 150 further hardened criminals to be released into the community,” Mr Tehan said.
“That is what we need Andrew Giles being upfront about this week, is that true? Have they received that legal briefing from the department. Is that what the secret briefing on Friday of journalists was all about?”.
Senator Jacqui Lambie earlier joined the Coalition in calling for Mr Giles’ head on Monday, saying Mr Albanese needed to reshuffle his cabinet to hose down anger over the government’s handling of the High Court decision.
“It’s time Labor had a really good look at their ministers and maybe it’s time for a reshuffle 12 months out before the next election,” Senator Lambie said on Monday.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the government’s focus remained, at all times, on community safety.
“The government is ready to respond to an evolving legal environment while continuing to ensure that there are layers of community protection in place,” she said last week.
The government is also rapidly working to launch preventive detention applications against individuals in the NZYQ cohort with serious criminal histories.
An additional 46 lawyers have been hired to help go through up to 35,000 documents per individual to lodge the strongest possible case in the courts.