May 1, 2024
LAURA JAYES: Let's go live now to the Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister, James Paterson. James, great to see you. First of all, I wanted to talk to you about the detainee saga. Our reporter, Trudie McIntosh, brought us the news this morning that the Commonwealth did not oppose bail, even though they said they did yesterday. It was even in the Prime Minister's office talking points sent out to ministers.
JAMES PATERSON: Laura, good morning, it's great to be with you. There's really only two possibilities here. One is that the Prime Minister's office and the Home Affairs Minister's office lied to the media, to their cabinet colleagues, to their Labor backed backbenchers, and through them to the Australian public about what they did. Or they are so utterly incompetent that they don't even know what position the Commonwealth took on the question of whether or not a released detainee who had violated the conditions of his visa should have bail or not. And it's all the more inexplicable, given that there was contemporaneous reporting in the West Australian newspaper from the courtroom, which described the Commonwealth position in detail, and even quoted the Magistrate in the case, saying that the Commonwealth was “generous” to not oppose bail and allow this person to be freed into the community and then allegedly go on to commit crimes. And as Trudy McIntosh said earlier on your program, she sought clarification on this question from the government three times yesterday. And on three occasions they told her they did oppose bail. So what on earth is going on in the office of the Minister for Home Affairs and in the Prime Minister's Office? This is a total shambles.
JAYES: A real stitch up for ministers like Michelle Rowland as well. But let's get down to the crux of this. Is this just, you know, a problem that a government of any stripe would be difficult to get on top of I mean, you didn't lend support to pass that legislation just before Parliament rose. Is this part of the reason we're in this, we're seeing these issues at the moment?
PATERSON: Laura, this is an absolutely desperate attempt by the government to distract from their own failures. The legislation before the Parliament now could in no way have applied to this person, could in no way have applied to this cohort. It is aimed at dealing with an entirely separate issue in the system.
JAYES: Then how do you fix it James?
PATERSON: Well let's count the failures here. Number one, when the High Court made its decision, the government was not ready and was not prepared to deal with it. Number two, when these people were first released into the community, they were issued faulty visas that were not legally sound and therefore, when they breached their visa conditions, the charges against them had to be dropped. Number three, when this person was before the court for a visa breach, the Commonwealth supported and allowed him to be let out on bail. Number four, when he was let out on bail, he was done so without an electronic monitoring device. And number five, they didn't use the preventative detention orders that the parliament gave them to take dangerous people like this off the streets so they couldn't commit horrific crimes like this person is alleged to have done. I mean, we're almost running out of numbers to count the number of failures from Clare O'Neil and Andrew Giles on this. It is an utter debacle.
JAYES: Yeah, it's quite a list when you put it like that. But James, what would you do if you were in the minister's position?
PATERSON: Well, let me say it's not an exhaustive list. There are other things they could have done, like Andrew Giles, who made the key concession in the High Court last year by conceding that NZYQ could not be deported. It was the key fact in which the High Court decided its case and ultimately decided he had was being held indefinitely because there was no prospect of him being deported. That concession shouldn't have been made. So there's so many things that the government could have done differently. I have no confidence at all, listening to the Minister on television this morning, listening to the Prime Minister yesterday that even today they are on top of this problem, or that they have the strength to make the tough decisions required. When the Magistrate released this person on bail, she said that the Commonwealth was being “generous” in allowing him not to be remanded in custody. Now, I don't know about you Laura, but I don't think that generosity is the emotion required towards this cohort. Let's remember they were in Australia on visas and committed crimes so serious that we had to cancel their visas on character grounds. And so serious that they couldn't be deported to any third country because no one wanted to take them. These are murderers. These are sex offenders. These are rapists. These are child abusers. These are people convicted of serious violent assault. I don't think the Commonwealth should be generous, but if you have a government that's weak and unwilling to make tough decisions, this is what happens.
JAYES: Yeah, I don't think generosity is the overwhelming feeling of a particular Perth grandmother either. James, thank you for your time. As always. We'll see you soon.
PATERSON: Thanks Laura.
ENDS
