New arrest sparks calls for tougher checks before more detainees released

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The arrest of another former detainee has sparked new calls for the federal government to toughen its checks before releasing more people from indefinite immigration detention amid the political dispute over about 150 people released since a High Court ruling four weeks ago.

The fifth detainee was arrested 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.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament he was sorry any time someone was the victim of a crime.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

With the Coalition demanding the government apologise for threats to community safety, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament he was sorry any time someone was the victim of a crime.

The government defended its handling of the cases by pointing to stronger laws passed by parliament late on Wednesday to allow the preventative detention of former detainees who could be a threat to the community, as well as the use of community supervision orders and monitoring devices such as ankle bracelets.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan cited the arrest of the former detainee in Queensland to challenge the government over the safeguards in place when it released people to abide by the High Court’s November 8 ruling that indefinite detention was unlawful.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said he could not comment on individual cases because he would be a decision-maker on any case that ended up in court. He quoted remarks by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton making the same point when he was home affairs minister in the previous government.

Tehan told this masthead that the arrest on Thursday was proof the government had jumped the gun in releasing the former detainees.

“The prime minister has no excuse now but to sack the minister for immigration and the minister for home affairs,” he said.

NSW Police confirmed a 39-year-old man was arrested by Queensland police in Brisbane on Thursday morning and taken to the Brisbane watch house so that NSW officers could seek his extradition in the coming days.

The man had an earlier conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was arrested on Thursday because he had breached parole, NSW Police said. They declined to comment on the details of his conviction or how he had breached parole.

Among other former detainees, one was arrested in Sydney last Saturday for alleged drug possession. A second, Abdelmoez Mohamed Elawad, 45, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday for a hearing on charges of stealing luggage from an airport traveller.

Another, Aliyawar Yawari, 65, was arrested in Adelaide and charged with indecent assault against a woman. A fourth, Emran Dad, 33, was arrested in Dandenong for allegedly breaching his reporting obligations as a sex offender.

Dutton accused the government of failing to prepare for the High Court ruling and asked Albanese in parliament to apologise for releasing known criminals into the community.

Albanese said the government had “no choice but to respond” to the change in the law and the requirement that people be released from indefinite detention as non-citizens who could not be deported.

“I am sorry any time someone is a victim of a crime, where it is committed, at any time against any victim,” he said.

Albanese sought to turn the tables on Dutton, however, by telling parliament the Coalition had been given an opportunity this week to see the government’s legal advice on the High Court decision – a sensitive subject since private legal advice is not usually released – and had declined to read it.

“Too interested in playing politics – they have refused to make themselves available,” Albanese said. “The leader of the opposition has not made himself available either. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. They have failed to avail themselves of the offer that we made.”

Albanese also told parliament that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had apologised to Sky News reporter Olivia Caisley after Dreyfus lost his temper on Wednesday when Caisley asked whether the government owed an apology to people who suffered the misdeeds of any released detainees.

Dreyfus had argued on Wednesday that the government was right to abide by the law, but he raised his voice with the reporter and upbraided her for interrupting him.

Albanese acknowledged that the attorney-general had not met the standards required in parliament and had apologised to the journalist. “When our standards are not met in this place … that is the appropriate course of action to take,” he said.

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