Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament this week he was sorry any time someone was the victim of a crime.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The opposition has hammered the government over its response to the High Court decision on November 8 that ruled indefinite immigration detention was illegal,accusing it of being flat-footed and failing to have appropriate safeguards in place.
Since the court’s verdict,the government has released almost 150 people – including some who already served sentences for violent offending – with the political furore intensifying at the start of the week when news first broke thatan ex-detainee was re-arrested.
Late Sunday,Afghan refugee and convicted sex offender Aliyawar Yawarifronted court in South Australia after allegedly indecently assaulting a woman on Saturday night at an Adelaide hotel. A second ex-detainee,45-year-old Mohammed Ali Nadari,was accused of drug possession when police allegedly found him with cannabis in western Sydney last Saturday afternoon.
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A third,Abdelmoez Mohamed Elawad,45,appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on charges of stealing luggage from anairport traveller.A fourth,Emran Dad,33,wasarrested in Dandenong for allegedly breaching his reporting obligations as a sex offender.
The fifth detainee wasarrested in Queensland on Thursday on an outstanding warrant seeking to return him to prison in NSW for breaching parole conditions over an earlier conviction for assault.
The government defended its handling of the cases by pointing to thestronger laws passed by parliament on Wednesday to allow the preventative detention of former detainees who could pose a threat to the community,as well as the use of community supervision orders and monitoring devices such as ankle bracelets.
In documentation accompanying the release of the amendment,the government acknowledged its legislation could breach human rights relating to discrimination,given Australian citizens who have been convicted of similar offences are not subject to similar restrictions.