Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TRANSCRIPT
Sky News Credlin
Topics: immigration detention
28 November 2023
E&OE.
Credlin
Former Attorney-General and now of course the Shadow, give us your take on the reasoning that we’ve had from the High Court today and where we go from here?
Senator Cash
Well Peta, what can you say – complete, total and utter incompetence by the Albanese government. In the first instance, the case applied to one person, the facts apply to one person, the orders applied to one person. So the Albanese government now needs to tell the Australian people why, when it did not have the High Court’s reasons, did it rush to release in excess of now 140 foreign criminals, one which you have rightly pointed out is actually on the run.
Credlin
Michaelia, can I just jump in there? Because nobody else has put that out there in the media today that I have seen anywhere. So, are you saying that your reading of that judgment meant they only had to let the Burmese rapist out? They didn’t have to do what they’ve done and released the 141 or the 140 other people so why don’t they just wait for the final release of the High Court’s reasoning before moving on anyone beyond the original claimant?
Senator Cash
And that is a very good question paper because again, High Court decision – one detainee. Facts of the case, one detainee, orders in relation to one detainee. They need to tell the Australian people why, absent the reasons for the decision, they rushed to let these people out. Because it would appear that they actually put the rights of detainees as they saw them above the safety and security of the Australian people. But in relation to the decision, what does the decision actually say? Well, it green lights what Peter Dutton, James Paterson and the Coalition have been saying from day one, bring in a preventative detention scheme. And what is the government said? They have been clear, they will not do it because they can’t do it. Well, guess what? Paragraph 72 of the High Court’s reasons today clearly blow that out of the water because the High Court, and Peta it’s not often the High Court tells a government what it can and can’t legislate -but the High Court was pretty clear here, preventative detention – something that Peter Dutton has said from day one, this government should have done. So quite frankly, and James Paterson said it himself today -we are ready to go, bring in the legislation, we will sit until it is passed. It’s in the government’s hands now. I’m waiting to see what they do Peta. I don’t hold out high hopes.
Credlin
So if I was cynical here Michaelia Cash, you could say when the decision was made before we see the reasons for judgment which we see now today – when the decision was made and they really were on the hook to release one detainee. The fact that the government decided they’d released basically the whole lot says to me that Labor particularly with a hard-left flank is very uncomfortable with the idea of border protection or indeed detention. So, they thought let’s just get this issue resolved, let’s swoop them all out and blame it on the High Court. But then there’s an almighty cry by the Australian public who say these people are some pretty bad foreign criminals, we owe them nothing. Why are they on the street? What’s the protections for us? And of course, the Coalition has held the government’s feet to their fire. And this so has gone on for the two week period, we can see how absolutely incompetent, they have been all the way through. I suspect unless the Coalition did what it did, there’d be no ankle bracelets. There wouldn’t even be now there’s pressure on them to put in preventative detention?
Senator Cash
Exactly. Peta, when we were first briefed at Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles so, Peter Dutton, Michaelia Cash, James Paterson and Dan Tehan – I can tell you right now – the initial legislation, they swore black and blue, it was as tough as they could make it. Within minutes, we’d identified faults. Within hours, we’d drafted six amendments, which we then handed to the government and said, this makes your legislation tougher. And guess what they fell over there and then and accepted the amendments. If only they listened to Peter Dutton, who let’s face it, that is a man who puts the safety and security of Australian first and foremost. He spent time in this portfolio, he knows what you can and can’t do, he called for a preventative detention regime. Why in God’s name didn’t the government just say look, we’ll have a crack at it. Because guess what, paragraph 72 – High Court decision, unanimous decision Peta, it green lights it. In fact, it doesn’t just green light it, it almost encourages it.
Credlin
Yeah and I played the grab from him last night in the chamber absolutely making this point. Well, before we obviously have that judgment reasoning released by the High Court. I must say my colleague Andrew Clennell’s uncovered all of these emails, emails of course that were filed in court documents that seem to be at odds with what the Minister was doing via her department with the US State Department. Conversations being held over there in relation to this Burmese individual and what she was telling the parliament, what she was telling the Australian public through the media. I have to say, you really see such incompetence, right across the board here from an individual. Surely, she’s got to go.
Senator Cash
Peta, there are some very serious questions now that Clare O’Neil has to answer. Because if you go to it’s, I think it’s around paragraph 63 of the decision, it clearly states there were some accepted facts. In other words, the government agreed something. What did the government agree? It agreed that in May of this year, there was no prospect of removing this person from Australia. That was an agreed fact, which the High Court then clearly states in its judgment, took into consideration. The actions of the Minister and the emails that you have now uncovered clearly show, why did they agree that fact, send the High Court down a particular path when they were continuing to look for other options? There is a lot that now needs to come out. And I think Clare O’Neil has some very serious questions she now needs to answer.
Credlin
Just quickly, we’re also getting legislation to deal with the issue of dual citizenship for convicted terrorists. We know that there was again a High Court decision. There’s long better view that the parliament needs to legislate to fix this up. The government said they’d do it as soon as they got in. It hasn’t happened yet. One of the worst criminals, convicted terrorists we have is a guy called Ben Brika, he’s in prison, he’s trying to get out on parole. And of course, he has now had, it was taken away by Peter Dutton. He has now had his Australian citizenship return. I find out last night from James Paterson that in fact, even with the government’s draft legislation, should it pass – it’s not for prospective, it will do nothing about this bloke Ben Brika. Now, surely, that also needs to be fixed up?
Senator Cash
Oh look, absolutely. And again, we were briefed on this legislation. And the first question Peter Dutton asked was does it apply to BenBrika? And Clare O’Neil said ‘no’. You’ve got to be kidding me. This is a government that just reacts, reacts, reacts. It scrambles to put things together and then it fails miserably on so many occasions. Why wasn’t the government prepared. In relation to this particular detainee in today’s decision – in May of this year, the government should have been preparing for an outcome that meant it might lose. And instead what’s Clare O’Neil saying – oh, we thought we were going to win. I mean Peta, Government’s prepare for the worst and the best case scenario. The same with the BenBrika decision, the best and the worst case scenario. This government doesn’t seem to prepare at all. Now, that worries me because I come from the side of politics, you come from the side of politics that says the safety and the security of the Australian people is the first and foremost priority of a Commonwealth government. Mr. Albanese doesn’t have the backs of the Australian people. That should really start to worry Australians, because the one thing you want your Prime Minister to have, it’s your back.
Credlin
Michaelia Cash, I’m going to leave it there. I tell you what, this is going to keep going on and on and on.
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