Anthony Albanese has blamed the community protection board and prosecutors for a former immigration detainee having his ankle bracelet removed and receiving bail before he and two other men allegedly assaulted a 73-year-old Perth woman.
The prime minister told Channel Seven’s Sunrise it was the “wrong decision” by the board to advise that Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan did not need electronic monitoring, and if it were up to him “there wouldn’t have been bail granted in that case”.
But Albanese continued to stand by the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, rejecting Coalition calls to sack him and explaining that both decisions had been made by independent agencies.
Doukoshkan, one of more than 150 people released from immigration detention after the high court ruled that indefinite detention was unlawful in November, was arrested along with two other men over the alleged assault and robbery of Ninette Simmons in April.
Western Australian police allege the trio also assaulted Simmons’ husband Philip, 76, and tied his hands behind his back, before stealing $200,000 worth of jewellery.
Doukoshkan faced court in February over alleged curfew breaches. Bail was not opposed by the commonwealth, and the charges were later dropped over an administrative error related to the issuing of his visa.
In March the community protection board, a panel of justice system experts, advised the government to remove Doukoshkan’s ankle bracelet, which Ninette Simmons has questioned.
On Friday Albanese was asked if it was time to sack his minister. He replied: “No … in this country … we have a separation of the judicial system from the political system.
“But if it was up to me I assure you that there wouldn’t have been bail granted in that case. But these things are done independently by the director of public prosecutions and in consultation of the AFP.
“That wasn’t a decision of government.”
Albanese said he was “just as upset” as others about the decision not to oppose bail, which he said “lacks common sense”. He suggested the issue could be considered by a meeting of attorneys general in Canberra on Friday.
Asked if it was a failure to remove the ankle bracelet, Albanese replied: “Yes, it is. I think that’s a wrong decision by that board, but they … make the decisions independently.”
Albanese said the commonwealth had opposed NZYQ’s bid in the high court to overturn the legality of indefinite detention but the government has “had to deal with the implications” of the loss.
The government had “brought in a range of laws”, which included curfews, criminal penalties for visa breaches and a regime to apply for preventive detention.
Albanese criticised the Coalition and Greens for delaying Labor’s bill to create an offence with a mandatory minimum of one-year in prison for a non-citizen who refused a direction to help facilitate their deportation.
“So we want to take as strong an action as possible here,” he said. “We recognise that community safety is the absolute priority.
“My heart goes out to Ninette. No one should be subject to that sort of violence. It is an outrage that this occurred and my government is committed to doing what we can to address these issues.”
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told Channel Nine’s Today program that “the minister has responsibility here”.
“The first charge of the prime minister of our country is to keep people safe, not to put them in harm’s way … People are right to be angry about it and upset.”
