Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. Evidence in Senate estimates has revealed the Albanese government has released seven murderers, 37 sex offenders, 16 domestic violence and stalking offenders, 13 serious drug offenders and 72 other violent criminals from immigration detention. So far, 18 of these criminals have been charged by state and territory police for new offences. Can the minister explain why he has failed to apply for a single community safety detention order?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member was heard in silence; so will the minister be.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for his question, again. It is worth restating for his and for all members' benefit that the release of these individuals was required by the decision of the High Court in November last year and would have been required under any government. Since then, we have been working around the clock to ensure the community is kept safe. We have done so by putting in place four layers of protection, one of which is, of course, the regime that was the subject of legislation that was put through the parliament at the end of last year that provides for preventative detention and ongoing supervision orders.

I'm sure the shadow minister, like the Leader of the Opposition, would be aware that this is modelled on the high-risk terrorist offenders scheme. He may well be aware that it took more than three years for the first continuing detention order application after that regime was enacted. Three years and 10 months was the shortest period of time for an application to be made to the court under members opposite under the regime from him and other members, including the Leader of the Opposition, who was the minister responsible for putting in place the high-risk terrorist offenders regime. I think we can see this question in that light and also in another light, and this is something that all members should be aware of—something that Senator Paterson pointed out. He said there is 'a very high legal threshold to be met for a court to agree to the ongoing detention of an offender who continues to pose an unacceptable risk'. This is exactly why we need to treat this with the caution and determined application it deserves.

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the wonderful member for Robertson for his question. It is indeed great to get a question about young people and about what the Australian government, the Albanese government, is doing for young Australians. The Albanese government not only values the ideas and the experiences of young people but also listens to them. Last year, we undertook nationwide consultations with young Australians aged between 12 and 25. Those consultations provided us an opportunity to engage directly with young Australians on the issues that matter to them the most. We ran 58 consultations right across Australia, and the young people very clearly told us that the No.1 issue for young Australians right now is cost of living.

As I said, Mr Speaker, the Albanese government listens. We listen to young people and we listen to our constituents. That's why from 1 July we are delivering a tax cut for every working Australian, making a real difference to 13.6 million Australians. That includes 1.5 million taxpayers aged between 18 and 24. They are going to get an average tax cut of $1,007 under our new tax plan. Taxpayers aged between 25 and 29—that is, 1.6 million taxpayers—are going to receive an average tax cut of $1,573 under Labor's tax plan. These tax cuts are good for young people, they're good for young Australians, they're good for middle Australia and, of course, they are good for our economy. As an example, a young person juggling part-time study and working in retail who earns $30,000 will receive a tax cut of $354 under Labor's plan and, on top of that, another $172 from the changes to the Medicare levy. This is on top of the billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief that we are already delivering for young Australians in cheaper medicines, in energy price relief, in boosting rent assistance—the biggest increase in 30 years—and through increases to JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY and Austudy.

The Albanese government has undertaken a course of reaching out to young people, involving them in consultations and listening to them—listening to the ways in which the policies that government makes affect them and what we can do better for them. We have heard the concerns and we are acting on them. (Time expired).

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Has the minister received any advice any of the 36 hard-core criminals released from detention by this government, not wearing ankle bracelets, have been charged with any offence?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for his question. I do say again, though, that the release of these individuals was required by reason of the decision of the High Court, a decision that any government would have to comply with. I say again that the management of everyone in that cohort has been subject to the expert advice of the men and women of the Community Protection Board—and that is advice that we have acted upon—a composed of trusted law enforcement officials. As I have already answered, the operational matters to which the member's question goes to—

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister was talking about the issue raised in the question. I will listen to the member for Wannon on a point of order.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It goes to relevance, Speaker. I wasn't asking the minister about operational matters; I was asking whether any of them have been charged with any offence. The public want to know the answers to these questions.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not an opportunity to add additional words to the question. The minister will need to be directly relevant to the question. He was asked about numbers—how many—and also about the advice that he may or may not have received.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was just going to the operational matters—which I was about to touch on and which I believe I have already referred to—about the conduct of Operation AEGIS and the manner in which that aspect of community protection is looked after through the work of the AFP and ABF, who are obviously responsible insofar as it relates to breaches of Commonwealth conditions, and state and territory law enforcement officials, who are responsible and who regularly provide updates on those matters when they constitute breaches of those conditions or other offences.