Former immigration detainees who were released after a High Court ruling have had their residences photographed using drones, the government has confirmed.
But it appears the drones are not being used to follow the detainees themselves, which immigration minister Andrew Giles implied they were on Thursday.
The 151 ex-detainees were placed on newly-created visas last year after the High Court ruled they could not be detained indefinitely. Many have criminal histories, and some have been charged with offences since their release.
As a condition of their visa, the ex-detainees cannot live close to schools or other sensitive locations. They can also be subject to curfews and ankle bracelet monitoring at the immigration minister’s discretion, informed by a board of law enforcement officials.
But the effectiveness of this monitoring was scrutinised after ex-detainee Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan participated in a violent home invasion and bashing of Perth woman Nanette Simons. Mr Doukoshkan was not required to wear an ankle bracelet at the time.
A subsequent report by the law enforcement board revealed only half the ex-detainees were subject to ankle monitoring and fewer than half were subject to curfews.
But asked about this in a Sky News interview on Thursday, Mr Giles said the government had put significant resources into monitoring the cohort.
“They are being monitored … [we have] used things like drones to keep track of these people. We know where they are.”
Drone or no drone?
But following the interview, a source in the Department of Home Affairs told the ABC there was no truth to what the minister had said.
And in a Senate estimates hearing on Friday, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said he was not aware that drones were being used.
The AFP is jointly managing the cohort under Operation AEGIS.
“Our role [is] very much focused on the enforcement and breaches,” he said.
“In terms of compliance and monitoring, that’s a role for the ABF [Australian Border Force], but I’ve got no knowledge of drones being used.”
But Labor minister Murray Watt, whose portfolio is agriculture but who has represented the government in Senate estimates on immigration matters, told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that drones were being used.
“My understanding is that drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense of monitoring the accommodation people are living in, for example, ensuring that it’s not too close to schools.”
Asked whether the drones were being used to follow the detainees themselves around, Senator Watt said “my understanding is more about mapping … the accommodation of the offender.”
A spokesperson for the Australian Border Force appeared to confirm this explanation, telling the ABC “Operation AEGIS may use aerial imagery from a variety of sources for operational planning purposes, for example to confirm the location of [an ex detainee’s] accommodation.”
The spokesperson did not directly confirm that drones had been used to capture images.
Coalition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson told Sky News Mr Giles acted irresponsibly in mentioning the drones.
“Either Andrew Giles accidentally and casually disclosed a secret drone surveillance program operating domestically in Australia … or he made it up and it’s not actually happening at all.”
He questioned why drones would be needed to produce aerial images.
“You don’t need a drone to do that. That sounds like satellite imagery. It sounds like, frankly, something a 12-year-old would get on Google Earth … what on Earth is going on here?”