On Tuesday, 27 February 2024 a report of a sexual assault in the Richmond area was made to Victoria Police.
That night Victoria Police charged a 43 year-old West Papuan Richmond resident, a former immigration detainee released under a 2023 High Court ruling, with sexual assault.
The next day, Wednesday 28 February, he faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court sometime in the morning on charges of sexual assault of one woman, stalking and two counts of unlawful assault involving this woman and another in two separate incidents on the same day. He did not apply for bail.
Victoria Police held a press conference in the afternoon of the same day in which Commander Mark Galliot revealed that police had since interviewed another male Richmond resident in relation to the same offences and apologised for arresting and detaining the West Papuan man in a case of mistaken identity. This second man is not a person released from immigration detention under the High Court ruling and, does not appear to be a migrant, refugee or asylum seeker.
Within hours the charged man's case returned to the Magistrates Court where all charges against him were withdrawn due to "misidentification" and he was released.
Regardless of the relatively swift and public resolution of this incident, members of the Coalition Opposition rose in the House of Representatives on the afternoon of the following day Thursday, 29 February and began to ask questions of the Albanese Government along these lines:
Ms LEY (Farrer—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Minister for Immigration,
Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. When was the minister first informed that a serial sex offender that the
Albanese government had released from immigration detention had been charged with sexual assault, stalking and two counts of unlawful assault in Victoria?
Ms McKENZIE (Flinders) (14:08): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. I refer to the minister's previous answer and ask: why did the minister fail to use his powers to seek to redetain this serial sex offender and protect these two Victorian women?
Mr FLETCHER (Bradfield—Manager of Opposition Business) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for
Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Out of the 149 hardcore criminals released by the Albanese
government, how many rapists and sex offenders, apart from the one who has just been charged with sexual assault, remain at large in the community?
Mr CALDWELL (Fadden) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On 13 February the minister assured the House that all 149 of the hardcore criminals the Albanese government released were being continuously monitored. Was this serial sex offender being continuously monitored at the time he is alleged to have sexually assaulted and stalked two women in Victoria?
Mr SUKKAR (Deakin) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. When did the minister inform the Prime Minister that this serial sex offender had committed new crimes against the Victorian community?
Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime
Minister, the immigration minister is a disaster. His decisions have put Australians at risk—
Government members interjecting—
Mr DUTTON: My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the immigration minister is a disaster. His
decisions have put Australians at risk, and women in Victoria are alleged to have been sexually assaulted. A hundred and forty-nine hardcore criminals—
Ms Thwaites interjecting— ......
Mr DUTTON: A hundred and forty-nine hardcore criminals have been released into the community. The minister has not taken a single application to redetain one of these criminals, and now more Australians are being harmed, with the likely risk extending to many more Australians. When will you show leadership, stop being so weak and sack this minister?
The Prime Minister's response.
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:53): 'We are not in a position to defy an order of the High Court, and no-one is suggesting that they should do that.' Not my words—the words of Senator Paterson. 'Under the Constitution, you can't detain someone indefinitely. We accept that.' Not my words—the words of the Leader of the Opposition. 'The High Court made the decision. We respect that decision.' Not my words—the words of the shadow minister for immigration. I'll tell you what's not strong. I'll tell you what strength is not. Strength is not asking for responses that would endanger judicial processes. That is not strong. There is no strength whatsoever in that. What is appalling is that the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that that is the case because he has been in that position, including when he was responsible for the legislation which our legislation was based upon. It was his legislation that he presided over, and he knows that that is the case.
[House of Representatives, Hansard, 29 February 2024, pp. 19, 22, 23, 25, 27]
There is little chance in light of the scant two days until the Saturday 2 March Dunkley federal by-election in Victoria that these Coalition MPs - especially Ms. McKenzie and Mr. Sukkar - were not aware of the details of the case of mistaken identity by the afternoon of Wednesday, 29 February 2024. After all, Victoria Police calling a televised press conference 24 hours earlier to essentially admit a wrongful arrest was a notable event.
It appears Ms. Ley was so determined to poison the Dunkley by-election well that she sent this tweet 1:03 hours before she asked her question in the House.
Once the mainstream media began to pick up on these misleading statements being made under parliamentary privilege and on social media, Leader of the Opposition & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton, was quick to further mislead and infer the Minister for Immigration was to blame. Presumably for not immediately alerting them to the fact that they were about to accuse the wrong person of sexual assault. 'How were we to know?'
However, despite such a juvenile excuse in front of the camera, the fact remains that in the House and elsewhere this was deceitful politicking and racist dog whistling at its worst.
By the evening of Thursday, 29 February Victoria Police had publicly released details of the second man who was identified as a person of interest for the same offences on Wednesday 28 February 2024.
Finally, two days later at approx. 9pm on Saturday, 2 March, three hours after the polls closed, the Dunkley federal by-election was called for Labor by Antony Green and the Liberal candidate publicly conceded.
So the Coalition's sordid attempt at political theatre had missed its mark.
