Michael Pezzullo has been terminated from his position as Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs after an inquiry found he had breached the public service code of conduct.
More to come
$255m crackdown on released crims
The government has announced it will pour $255m into strict new monitoring of dozens of recently released immigration detainees, including convicted criminals.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced a funding boost on Monday that will go towards new laws restricting the movements of asylum seeker detainees released after the High Court outlawed indefinite detention.
It’s been confirmed that 138 people that have now been released from immigration detention that require electronic monitoring. Of those, 132 are now being electronically-monitored.
LISTEN to the new podcast
Court in the Act
Inside the courtroom with Tim Clarke.
Of the six that remain, four detainees have been referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation for non-compliance.
Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram said the four cases were “at the lower end of the risk to the community.”
Under the package, the government will provide $150m to Border Force authorities for extra staff in “compliance, removal and surveillance functions” while the AFP will receive $88m for “regional response teams and personnel to investigate breaches of visa conditions”
Ms O’Neil said the government’s response prioritised community safety and the new funding would ensure “our agencies are able to dedicate the time and resources that will be required to manage this cohort.”
She warned the full fallout from the court’s ruling wouldn’t be clear until after the full judgment was released.
“We are using this law to manage community safety risks while we await the High Court’s clarity on exactly what the defined boundaries of the law are and I will just say there’s some pretty fundamental things that the High Court is considering in its decision here.”