Sunrise host Natalie Barr has confronted the Albanese government after three murderers and a number of sex offenders were released into the community following a landmark High Court decision.
‘So far, political debate has focused on who to blame rather than to fix it,’ Barr said before a tense interview with Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Prime Minister should cancel his scheduled overseas trip to San Francisco to introduce new legislation to put the 81 asylum seeker back behind bars.
Mr Albanese’s attendance at the APEC summit has been in the works for months, but the Opposition leader said he needed to ‘do whatever it takes to get these people back into custody, where they belong’ and that Parliament ‘should not rise until the government comes forward with legislation.
‘We will sit down with the government, we will sit additional hours through the night,’ he said on Wednesday.
Mr Dutton describes those released by the ruling as ‘hardcore criminals’.
The High Court decision was out of the government’s hands and stridently opposed by Mr Albanese and his ministers.
As a result, 81 asylum seekers in indefinite detention – deemed too dangerous to be on the streets and with no other country to be deported to – have been released.
Sunrise host Natalie Barr says political debate has centred around who’s to blame for the issue, rather than fixing it
Ms O’Neil said the government was releasing people under ‘the strictest possible visa conditions’.
‘Clare, a paedophile who raped a 10-year-old boy, a hitman who murdered a pregnant woman, do we know where they are?’ Barr asked.
O’Neil responded, saying: ‘Nat, can I say before I answer your question, those crimes and those people are absolutely despicable.
‘I’m raising three children in this country and I can tell you that if there was anything in my power to keep these people in detention, I would absolutely do it.
‘Yes, we do know where those people are.’
Ms O’Neil said the government was releasing people under ‘the strictest possible visa conditions’.
This includes notifying authorities about their location, in-person daily reporting and restrictions on working in certain types of industries.
‘It includes us continuously monitoring things like social media and email addresses and phone numbers and the like,’ she said.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government is focused on keeping ns safe and had argued against the High Court’s decision.
‘I remind ns that we argued against this in the High Court,’ Mr Marles told Sunrise on Wednesday.
‘This is not our decision. But in the decision having been made by the High Court, these people have been released.
‘They’ve been put on bridging visas with the strictest possible conditions. That was something that the Government did straightaway.
‘We are continuing to assess what option we have here, which include potential legislative responses and we’ll be working on that very quickly.’
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton went so far as to suggest Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should cancel his scheduled overseas trip to San Francisco in order to rush through new legislation to put 81 offenders back behind bars
Mr Marles noted the High Court has yet to release its full judgement, which makes the ‘situation more difficult’.
However, he explained the government will be placing the ‘strictest’ conditions on those released to ensure community safety.
‘Obviously the difficulty of the situation is much greater now that these people have been released and, again, this is not what we wanted,’ Mr Marles said.
‘The strictest possible conditions have been placed upon these people and we are wanting to make sure that the steps we take are legally robust and that they endure.
‘But, what the community needs to understand is first and foremost, our number one criteria, our number one focus is community safety.’
The opposition has accused the Albanese government of taking its eye off the ball, claiming they knew the courts decision was coming and were unprepared
But Opposition Senator Jane Hume argued courts made decisions ‘all the time’ that overturn or override government decisions.
The government had taken its eye off the ball because they knew the court’s decision was coming and were unprepared, she said.
‘Now we have 80 very dangerous, potentially, offenders out in the community,’ she said.
‘They knew a High Court decision was coming yet there is no legislative or regulatory response ready to go.’
Ms O’Neil said Senator Hume’s reasoning was ‘garbage’.
‘The idea that it is open to the n government to simply legislate away a High Court decision is not the way our Constitution works,’ she said.
The n Federal Police commissioner has briefed his state and territory counterparts about the decision, and a joint operation with the n Border Force has been established to co-ordinate their release.
Asked why the government didn’t have legislative or regulatory frameworks in place to deal with the issue, Labor minister Anika Wells said the High Court was yet to hand down the reasons for its decision.
‘So for us to capture and make sure this doesn’t happen again, we need to know the reason before we draft any legislative or regulatory measure for the house,’ she told Nine’s Today show.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has said the government sought prior advice about its options depending on a variety of outcomes of the court’s decision and continued to look at ‘all regulatory and legislative options’.