1 week Ago By Angus Thompson
Home Affairs officials only began drafting emergency legislation to monitor criminals released from detention two days after a High Court judgment freed them, even though officials met with Immigration Minister Andrew Giles several times in the lead-up to the November 8 ruling. Departmental documents released under freedom-of-information laws show legislation for curfews and ankle monitors was being developed “at rapid pace” from November 10, a day after the opposition urged the government to act immediately. The government’s response to the release of 153 former detainees – many with serious criminal convictions, including murder and rape – has been marked by a series of attempts to ram through laws under tight timeframes while having to rely on the opposition to pass them.
Labor is also facing continued questions about the decision of a departmental delegate to remove the ankle monitor of a former detainee after he allegedly breached his curfew conditions and before he allegedly became involved in a violent home invasion on April 16. Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the released information was “official confirmation of what we long suspected”. “The government’s chaotic response to the High Court’s ruling in NZYQ is because they did not do their homework and weren’t ready.
It’s no wonder they have been so hapless at every step since and often had to be led by the Coalition to legislate the protections the community deserves,” h.
