Australia’s security watchdog will examine how complex asylum-seeker cases are handled after a convicted murderer with terrorism links was held for eight months in a low-security setting in the Adelaide Hills.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the probe on Wednesday as the government came under fire from the Opposition demanding more details of what the government knew of the Egyptian, a member of Islamic Jihad.
“I have directed the inspector-general of intelligence and security to examine the management of Australian government agencies of persons seeking asylum who present complex security issues, particularly this case,” Gillard told parliament.
Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor had backflipped, admitting the government was alerted to the high-risk individual’s presence some seven months before he was transferred to appropriately secure detention.
A month after the man’s August 2012 arrival in Australia, ASIO informed the office of then immigration minister Chris Bowen.
You might like
On Tuesday, O’Connor said neither he or Bowen had been advised of the case until April 2013.
“I was subsequently advised that the former minister’s office received a submission relating to this matter on September 28, 2012,” O’Connor admitted to parliament on Wednesday.
“This submission related to the complex issues surrounding the detainee’s capacity to apply for a protection visa.”
It is unclear whether Bowen saw the document.
Stay informed, daily
O’Connor told parliament the former minister did not sign the submission or return it to ASIO, and that no such documentation had been presented to O’Connor on his appointment.
After eight months at South Australia’s low-security Inverbrackie detention centre, near Woodside, the individual was shifted to Sydney’s Villawood centre in April 2013.
O’Connor said he first learnt of the case at that time.
“No matters relating to the detainee were raised with me or my office prior to April 17, 2013,” he said.
The matter has become a hot topic in parliament, with the opposition firing numerous questions at government frontbenchers.
“This person has been in detainment at all times,” said O’Connor on Wednesday, a refrain echoed by his party colleagues.
“The transfer of that person from one centre to a centre that was indeed more secure … was indeed the appropriate thing to do.”
