❓ Mr. Folkard questions the Attorney General regarding the federal government's measures to protect WA from Shayden Thorne upon his release. The Attorney General defends his communication with the federal government and criticises the Leader of the Opposition's comments on the matter, placing blame on Peter Dutton.
AnsweredQoN 109Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SHAYDEN THORNE
109. Mr M.J. FOLKARD to the Attorney General:
I refer to the release from jail of
convicted terrorist Shayden Thorne. Can the Attorney General advise the house whether the federal government or the Minister for
Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, took appropriate measures to protect the Western
Australian community from this dangerous criminal; and, if not, can the
Attorney General outline to the house what this lack of action has meant to the
Western Australian community?
109. Mr M.J. FOLKARD to the Attorney General:
I refer to the release from jail of
convicted terrorist Shayden Thorne. Can the Attorney General advise the house whether the federal government or the Minister for
Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, took appropriate measures to protect the Western
Australian community from this dangerous criminal; and, if not, can the
Attorney General outline to the house what this lack of action has meant to the
Western Australian community?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his question.
It is a very serious situation and ought not be played politics with. I will
come to the cheap politics of it in a moment, Leader of the Opposition, do not
worry. We have a very serious situation whereby a person convicted of a terrorism
offence was sentenced to three and a half years' imprisonment with the availability of parole. Whilst in prison, he was
debriefed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police, during the course of which he refused to disavow his
loyalty to ISIS and, in fact, said he regarded the ISIS flag as a religious
icon. These are damning statements by him. In view of these statements, the Victorian government and the Victorian parole
board would not release him into our community on parole. Under the
federal government's terrorism laws, it has powers similar to our
dangerous sex offender legislation whereby in the case of someone who is a continual
danger, the federal government can apply for continuing incarceration or for
any other supervision order once the offender is released into the community.
I was alerted last Wednesday by the
Commissioner of Police that Shayden Thorne was about to be released last
Saturday. The commissioner expressed his utmost concern that there was no
requirement for Shayden Thorne to wear a GPS ankle bracelet to be tracked in
the Western Australian community, as there was clear evidence he was returning
to this jurisdiction. Yesterday on the radio, the Leader of the Opposition made
an entirely vacuous comment that this whole problem is because of a lack of
communication and relationship between Quigley, the state Attorney General, and
the federal government. In fact, as soon as I heard that, I texted my
parliamentary colleague, a gentleman for whom I have legal respect, Hon
Christian Porter, and have known for 12 years and can talk to at any time. I texted
him immediately and he texted back to say that he was in question time and
would ring me back straight after question time, which he did. I put to him
that the control order application needed to include a provision that Shayden
Thorne wear a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet at all times or the commonwealth
should give consideration to holding him in detention. Mr Porter explained to
me that the application for the control order was signed off by Mr Dutton
without those requirements on 27 February and that he, Mr Porter, could not
vary that application without withdrawing it and putting in a new one. He
explained to me that if he took that action, that would mean that Mr Thorne
would have been released on Saturday without any control order at all. I lamented
to Mr Porter that there was nothing we could do in that regard.
This was a flub by Mr Dutton. He should have contacted this
government and said, ''We plan to release a terrorist into your
community. What supervision can the Western Australian government offer?''
We would have offered an ankle bracelet so that for about $100 a day Mr Thorne
would have been tracked on live screen with any exclusion zones marked out in
red, but that did not happen. For the Leader of the Opposition to go on radio
yesterday and say that the whole problem was because of a lack of communication
between the federal government and me was a vacuous comment to make. It was as
vacuous as her tweet today, when she asked the Premier how many doctors, beds
and nurses would be needed to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. She tweeted that
he could not answer that question. Of course no-one can tell how many beds and
doctors are needed because we do not know how big the outbreak will get. If the
Leader of the Opposition asked the same question of the Prime Minister of
Australia today, he would be put upon to give exactly the same truthful answer
as the Premier. That is a vacuous criticism of this government and it is
nonsense.
It is a very serious situation and ought not be played politics with. I will
come to the cheap politics of it in a moment, Leader of the Opposition, do not
worry. We have a very serious situation whereby a person convicted of a terrorism
offence was sentenced to three and a half years' imprisonment with the availability of parole. Whilst in prison, he was
debriefed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police, during the course of which he refused to disavow his
loyalty to ISIS and, in fact, said he regarded the ISIS flag as a religious
icon. These are damning statements by him. In view of these statements, the Victorian government and the Victorian parole
board would not release him into our community on parole. Under the
federal government's terrorism laws, it has powers similar to our
dangerous sex offender legislation whereby in the case of someone who is a continual
danger, the federal government can apply for continuing incarceration or for
any other supervision order once the offender is released into the community.
I was alerted last Wednesday by the
Commissioner of Police that Shayden Thorne was about to be released last
Saturday. The commissioner expressed his utmost concern that there was no
requirement for Shayden Thorne to wear a GPS ankle bracelet to be tracked in
the Western Australian community, as there was clear evidence he was returning
to this jurisdiction. Yesterday on the radio, the Leader of the Opposition made
an entirely vacuous comment that this whole problem is because of a lack of
communication and relationship between Quigley, the state Attorney General, and
the federal government. In fact, as soon as I heard that, I texted my
parliamentary colleague, a gentleman for whom I have legal respect, Hon
Christian Porter, and have known for 12 years and can talk to at any time. I texted
him immediately and he texted back to say that he was in question time and
would ring me back straight after question time, which he did. I put to him
that the control order application needed to include a provision that Shayden
Thorne wear a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet at all times or the commonwealth
should give consideration to holding him in detention. Mr Porter explained to
me that the application for the control order was signed off by Mr Dutton
without those requirements on 27 February and that he, Mr Porter, could not
vary that application without withdrawing it and putting in a new one. He
explained to me that if he took that action, that would mean that Mr Thorne
would have been released on Saturday without any control order at all. I lamented
to Mr Porter that there was nothing we could do in that regard.
This was a flub by Mr Dutton. He should have contacted this
government and said, ''We plan to release a terrorist into your
community. What supervision can the Western Australian government offer?''
We would have offered an ankle bracelet so that for about $100 a day Mr Thorne
would have been tracked on live screen with any exclusion zones marked out in
red, but that did not happen. For the Leader of the Opposition to go on radio
yesterday and say that the whole problem was because of a lack of communication
between the federal government and me was a vacuous comment to make. It was as
vacuous as her tweet today, when she asked the Premier how many doctors, beds
and nurses would be needed to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. She tweeted that
he could not answer that question. Of course no-one can tell how many beds and
doctors are needed because we do not know how big the outbreak will get. If the
Leader of the Opposition asked the same question of the Prime Minister of
Australia today, he would be put upon to give exactly the same truthful answer
as the Premier. That is a vacuous criticism of this government and it is
nonsense.
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