Although more than 2000 years have elapsed since Cicero observed "the safety of the people is the highest law" that's as true now as in the age of the Caesars. That's why the Albanese government is taking a battering over its mishandling of released immigration detainees and the failure to deport non-citizens found guilty of heinous crimes.
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Two cases have galvanised public opinion and allowed the opposition to continue to characterise Labor as weak on community safety and national security.
One was the brutal bashing of an elderly cancer patient in her home by a recently released immigration detainee in Western Australia. The other was the case of a man who had been allowed to stay in the country after doing jail time for choking the mother of his children and who later murdered a man in Queensland.
Both highlight a lack of oversight and involvement in the day-to-day affairs of their departments by the Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and the Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neil. The opposition has been calling for their scalps for weeks. It is a miracle, or perhaps testament to the PM's reliance on factional loyalties, they have been able to stay on this long.
The lack of ministerial oversight in these portfolios became apparent last year when the government was blindsided by the NZYQ High Court ruling that led to the release of 153 long-term immigration detainees - including the man responsible for the assault in Perth.
At least two convicted murderers and 26 sex offenders were released. Apparently only five of the cohort have been fitted with ankle bracelets while hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on "income support".
The government's latest round of bad hair days began just as the controversy over the released detainees was beginning to settle down. The public learnt that an arrangement intended to placate the injured feelings of the former New Zealand Labour government had nasty unintended consequences.
Apparently, following representations from Jacinda Ardern over the forced repatriation of New Zealand citizens guilty of serious crimes to the land of the long white cloud on completion of their sentences - even though they may have spent almost all their lives in Australia - the Prime Minister asked Mr Giles to act.
He came up with the now infamous Direction 99. This Ministerial diktat instructed the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to take into account an appellant's ties with Australia when reviewing a decision to deport them.
Minister Giles, who is now working furiously to rewrite the directive, reportedly ignored advice from Home Affairs staff that about 2800 cases would need to be "re-notified". As a result the AAT, acting in accordance with Direction 99, has allowed dozens of people deemed to be of poor character - including murderers, rapists and paedophiles - to stay here.
Meanwhile, in a clear effort to evade the Westminster principle which maintains the minister is responsible for all that happens in their portfolio, Mr Giles has thrown both the AAT and the secretary of the Home Affairs Department under the bus.
The AAT is apparently at fault for having complied with what has turned out to be a very poorly thought through directive. The secretary Stephanie Foster is apparently at fault for not having informed the minister of a "number of cases" where detainees had been freed in accordance with Direction 99.
While it is true the poor communications between the secretary and the minister are a fit subject for review, if Mr Giles had had his eye on the ball he would have sought this information out, not waited for it to be handed to him on a plate.
The buck stops here.
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