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Home Secretary Clare O’Neil admitted on a TV breakfast show that she did not know whether four asylum seekers and sex offenders released onto the streets by the High Court were wearing tracking bracelets .
Ms O’Neil struggled to answer whether sex offenders released from immigration were wearing ankle bracelets more than 18 hours after WA’s police commissioner confirmed four offenders in her state were not equipped with them these devices.
The Today Show’s Karl Stefanovic asked the minister if inmates were wearing ankle monitoring bracelets or if the devices were still being deployed.
“I certainly know that many people have seen these curfews and ankle monitoring bracelets put in place. If I could just explain to your viewers, Minister Giles is required by law to consider each of these cases on an individual basis,” she said.
Home Secretary Clare O’Neil (pictured on Wednesday) did not respond whether convicted sex offenders had been freed from wearing ankle bracelets or whether the devices were still being deployed.
Ms O’Neil’s mistake came after Police Commissioner Colonel Blanch spoke on local radio about the lack of follow-up before 3pm on Monday.
Five asylum seekers have been released from the Yongah Hill immigration detention center, bringing the total to 39 in Washington state. Eight of them were convicted of child sex offences.
Four have since left WA, with police revealing they are unable to track down the remaining four sex offenders or their whereabouts.
“The four people in Washington state are not being tracked by GPS, so we don’t have the authority to (put them in place),” Commissioner Blanch told local radio.
“But we will do house calls (and ask) what phone do you have, what computers do you use? » We want you to check in with us at any time.
“They are subject to the strictest conditions. If they fail to comply with any of these obligations, we arrest them and charge them with violating their reporting requirements.
“We can go knock on their door any day or night and make sure they comply with those conditions.” I can guarantee that we monitor these people to the highest standard under our current reportable offender regime.
Despite emergency laws hastily passed by Parliament that will require former inmates to wear ankle monitors, there is still no record of the devices in Washington state.
Commissioner Blanch said his officers did not have the authority to track other inmates because they were “lawfully in the community.”
“WA Police’s responsibility is for reportable offenders – child sex offenders. Everything else is the responsibility of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force,” he said.
Karl Stefanovic criticized the Government for being unprepared for the High Court’s decision, but Ms O’Neil said she “vehemently disagreed”.
“What I saw was an Australian government putting in place a whole new community safety regime, setting up a joint policing operation, putting in place a whole new visa system within the week and a day after a High Court decision,” she told the host.
“Now I have been in Parliament for over a decade. I have never seen a government respond to a constitutional decision at this pace.
Stefanovic criticized the Government for being unprepared for the High Court’s decision, but Ms O’Neil said she “vehemently disagreed” with its tone.
Ms O’Neil said it was “highly unlikely” that all 340 people detained by immigration for more than a year would be released.
“Well, you don’t know because the High Court makes the decision,” Stefanovic joked.
“Well, Karl, I think you will understand that we have a legal system in this country in which, as a minister, I can legislate and make decisions,” she replied.
“But ultimately, our country’s High Court is the only body with the power to decide the meaning of the Australian Constitution.
“The High Court has given us an absolute directive that we must proceed down this path.”
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley did not respond to whether NSW detainees were wearing ankle bracelets when asked by 2GB’s Mark Levy on Wednesday.
“It’s a federal issue, I haven’t had a briefing on it,” Mr. Daley responded.
“I have no doubt that authorities at the state and federal level would do a very, very good job of tracking offenders. We have inmates in New South Wales who come out of the New South Wales prison system and are monitored by prison officers and they do a fantastic job.
Some 93 detainees have been released since the High Court ruled that their indefinite detention was unlawful on 8 November.
Some of them committed serious violent and sexual offenses against women and children, as well as organized crime figures and gangs.
A further 250 immigration detainees, including some who have committed “deplorable and disgusting things”, could be released into the community next year.
Following the High Court’s ruling, the government moved quickly to pass legislation imposing strict visa restrictions on those released, including the wearing of electronic ankle monitoring bracelets or other similar devices.