A sex offender released from immigration detention following a High Court ruling has been charged with two counts of indecent assault, prompting the federal opposition to call for two ministers to resign.
Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari was deemed a “danger to the Australian community” by a South Australian judge in 2016 following attacks on three elderly women in 2013 and 2014.
SA Police have confirmed a 65-year-old man was charged with two counts of indecent assault and was refused police bail to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.
Australian Border Force confirmed that two immigrants released from immigration detention following a High Court ruling had reoffended in South Australia and NSW.
One of them remains in custody after committing a serious sexual assault, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said, as he called for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to resign.
“This is a catastrophic failure. The Albanese government has failed their number one duty, which is to keep the Australian community safe,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program on Tuesday.
The federal government will introduce amendments on Wednesday to laws brought in to deal with the fallout from the High Court decision that ruled indefinite detention was illegal, resulting in the release of more than 140 detainees.
Under the amendments, preventative detention orders would apply to those released, including murderers and sex offenders, and are based on similar measures for high-risk terror offenders, Ms O’Neil said.
The exact number of released detainees the preventative detention orders would apply to is not known.