Dutton and Ley chastised for using immigration detainee's mistaken arrest ahead of Dunkley by-election

Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley were chastised on air for their party’s comments on an ex-detainee’s arrest, which later turned out to be a mistake. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his deputy Sussan Ley have been chastised after the Liberal Party jumped on the arrest of a former immigration detainee that later was revealed to have been wrongly made.

Victoria Police apologised late yesterday after discovering they had mistakenly arrested a man who was released from immigration detention in a High Court ruling last year.

As the Dunkley by-election in Victoria nears, the Liberal Party has ramped up its attack on the government’s management of immigration issues — and following yesterday’s wrongful arrest, Liberal MPs again accused the government of failing to keep women safe.

On Twitter, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the by-election would be a chance to send Labor a message on “foreign criminals”.

“If you live in Frankston and you’ve got a problem with Victorian women being assaulted by foreign criminals, vote against Labor. If you do not want to see Australian women being assaulted by foreign criminals, vote against Labor,” Ms Ley tweeted.

Stating that the debate had become “grubby”, government frontbencher Jason Clare told Ms Ley in a Channel 7 segment this morning that the late member for Dunkley Peta Murphy would be “disgusted” by her tweet and it should be deleted.

Ms Ley retorted that she would not take instruction from Mr Clare.

“Your home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said every one of those individuals who has been let out, those hardened criminals, should be locked up, it includes 37 sex offenders,” Ms Ley said.

“As a woman, I am not taking a backwards step on this and I am calling it out.”

In an on-air exchange on Channel Nine, government frontbencher Bill Shorten lashed Liberal leader Peter Dutton for jumping the gun on the mistaken arrest.

“We saw yesterday in parliament, he basically used the parliament to prosecute some individual detainee who had been released by the High Court, and he accused him of all manner of things. But the problem is they got the wrong guy,” Mr Shorten said.

“Pete, when you run a lynch mob, make sure you get the right guy.

“Let’s sit back, let the experts, you know, pursue what they want to do. What do you think of that, Pete? No more playing in the traffic.”

Mr Dutton later told Sky News the wrongful arrest was “regrettable” but the Opposition had been acting on official advice.

“It’s certainly regrettable and Victoria Police have addressed that, but in the end as we know in Victoria and here in Dunkley, crime is a huge issue,” Mr Dutton said.

“We relied on [the minister’s] advice and the advice that was publicly available.”

Independent senator David Pocock said the politicisation of the High Court’s immigration ruling had been “awful”.

“Community safety has to be a priority for elected representatives … but what we’re seeing here is pure politicking and some truly awful use of fear for political gain,” Senator Pocock said.