Despite PM Anthony Albanese desperately trying damage control by booting Andrew Giles from the immigration portfolio he should never have been allowed to get his grubby paws on, the fallout continues. Even worse, not only did Labor yet again place Australians in unnecessary danger, it potentially misled parliament.
Not content with turning loose hundreds of dangerous foreign criminals once – including murderers, rapists and paedophiles – Giles went and did it again. And again. And, we now learn, yet again.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal the then immigration minister Andrew Giles received eight submissions from the Department of Home Affairs between November 10 and 16.
The submissions reveal that at least 83 dangerous individuals were granted their freedom and were residing as unlawful non-citizens in the community before they received their bridging visas.
The submissions make it clear that there’s no buck-shifting room, here. Giles was directly responsible for every criminal he turned loose.
In each of the department’s submissions, Mr Giles was informed of an individual or a group “currently residing in the community as unlawful non-citizens” after being “released from immigration detention following the High Court judgment in NZYQ”.
Mr Giles was asked by the department between November 10 and 16 to grant at least 83 unlawful non-citizens residing in the community a Bridging R (Class WR) (Removal Pending) (subclass 070) visa (BVR) under regulation 2.25AA of the Migration Regulations of 1994.
The then minister was informed that, if he decided “not to grant a BVR to the individuals listed … they will remain in the community as unlawful non-citizens and unless their circumstances change, they cannot be detained”.
Guess which he opted for?
Then he lied about it.
However, when asked in parliament by Peter Dutton on November 15 whether any of the “hardcore criminals released into the community following the High Court’s decision … were released into the community without a visa”, Mr Giles said all of those released were on bridging visas.
“I can confirm that all of those individuals required to be released as a result of the decision of the High Court are on bridging visas with appropriate conditions,” he told parliament.
Just the very next day, Giles was all-but notified that he’d been caught out by the Home Affairs department.
The next day, November 16, Mr Giles received another submission informing him that “the individuals being referred in this submission are currently residing in the community as unlawful non-citizens as they were released from immigration detention following the High Court judgment in NZYQ”.
No clarification or apology was ever forthcoming.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan […] argued it was “crystal clear that Andrew Giles has misled the parliament” and called on Anthony Albanese to dismiss him from the frontbench.
“The question now is one for the Prime Minister: given this, should Andrew Giles remain a minister in his government?” Mr Tehan said.
Under Westminster convention, a minister who misleads parliament must resign. Giles is now minister for skills and training. Having been booted from the immigration job, Giles and his boss Albanese will almost certainly use that to weasel out of any further punishment.
What’s the deputy PM’s excuse, though?
Mr Giles was not the only minister who suggested in parliament that dangerous non-citizens were only released into community on bridging visas.
Speaking on November 16, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles declared that “the government, in releasing those individuals, put them on bridging visas, where there were strict conditions.”
And Australia just keeps reaping the ‘rewards’ of Giles’ tenure.
Another immigration detainee has been arrested in Sydney after allegedly breaching visa conditions, this time a 28-year-old Afghan-born man.
Abbas Ali Fatehi […] was one of the 159 immigration detainees released back into the community last year following a landmark NZYQ High Court ruling, which found it unlawful to hold stateless refugees if there was no real prospect of their removal from Australia […]
At least 40 out of the 159 former detainees were slapped with a criminal charge since their release in November.
Just another day in the vibrant and diverse experience of multiculturalism.
