Second detainee allegedly involved in Perth home invasion released while Peter Dutton was minister

A Federal Labor Minister has called on Peter Dutton to “take responsibility” after it emerged one of the three men who allegedly bashed an elderly Perth woman was granted a protection visa when he was Home Affairs minister.

Seyed Younes Tahami, 38, is alleged to be one of a trio who brutally assaulted Ninette Simons 73, and her husband Philip, 76 in their Girrawheen home in April.

Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, 43 has also been charged over the home invasion.

After it emerged that Mr Doukoshkan was one of the 153 detainees released by the High Court in February, Mr Dutton slammed Anthony Albanese, saying he had failed to “keep people safe”.

But according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Tahami was released from Federal detention, despite having spent time in prison, in 2020 — when Mr Dutton was Home Affairs Minister.

His release was signed by a delegate for the minister.

Minister Watt — who was in Perth on Saturday to announce the timeline for the phase out of live sheep exports — said he was “very concerned” about the incident and pointed to Mr Dutton’s commentary in the months following the High Court’s decision that indefinite detention of detainees was unlawful.

“Now I think everyone has seen that for months now, Peter Dutton and his colleagues have been playing politics with community safety over immigration issues,” Mr Watt said.

“We had a High Court decision that we needed to react to and respond to, and what we’ve done in response is put together a strong protection regime that includes ankle bracelets, curfews and monitoring.

“None of that happened when Peter Dutton was the Home Affairs minister.”

Mr Watt said Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil had both “taken responsibility. . . every day of the week” since the court’s decision and called on Mr Dutton to do likewise for his actions when he was in power.

“Now, Peter Dutton talks a lot about taking responsibility,” he said.

“And I think the question for Peter Dutton today is, ‘is he going to take responsibility for this decision that was taken when he was the Home Affairs Minister’.

“I’m not going to blame anyone for this. What I’m observing is that Peter Dutton would like to talk a lot about Labor ministers needing to take responsibility.

“Here’s a perfect opportunity for him to take responsibility for the granting of a protection visa that occurred while he was the Home Affairs minister that allegedly now involves an offender.”