Nat Barr delivers brutal takedown of Anthony Albanese's minister after freed detainee allegedly bashed pensioner - and asks the question on everybody's mind as pressure mounts for her to resign in tense TV showdown

Sunrise host Nat Barr has unleashed at the Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil amid calls for her resignation after a pensioner was allegedly bashed by a freed detainee. 

West Australian police say three people assaulted Ninette Simmons, 73, and her 76-year-old husband Philip, alleging his hands were tied behind his back while they stole $200,000 in jewellery.

'Ninette and her husband, I think needed more than thoughts and prayers here,' Barr said to Ms O'Neil on Wednesday.

'This man was on charges of trespass, driving and drugs. He was before the court several times.

'One of those charges, I understand, was a federal charge. A visa charge that had to be withdrawn because of a bungle by your government.

'Why wasn't he wearing an ankle bracelet?'

Ms O'Neil did not answer the question, saying that she couldn't comment and potentially interrupt criminal proceedings against the man.

'So one of the layers of protection that we have in place, Nat, is a group of very experienced law enforcement officials who make decisions about how people will be monitored in the community,' she said.

'I can't speak to the specifics in this individual case.

'But I will say that this is one of the layers of protection we've put in, including a regime that puts in place ankle monitoring bracelets and curfews.'

Barr fired back asking a question on the minds of many Australians.

'Aren't you responsible for the Community Protection Board that makes those decisions?

'And they did not give him an ankle bracelet?

'Do you think people feel safe out there?' 

'Well, I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the case,' Ms O'Neil repeated.

Shadow finance minister Jane Hume was even more brutal, demanding Ms O'Neil resign.

'The reason why the High Court made this decision was because evidence was given by Minister Giles in the first place, saying that the original criminal detainee could not be deported to another country, that was wrong,' Ms Hume said.

'Claire for the last six months, you have come on this programme and said If there is anything you do, you would do it.

'Yet you did not oppose bail to this for this criminal and the magistrate said that she thought that that was generous by the Commonwealth.

'Where was this man's ankle bracelet?

'Why has he been allowed to continue to wander around the streets and to commit these crimes?' Ms Hume said.

'I understand that decisions have been made that have been out of your control.

'But quite frankly you are responsible for the most incompetent junior Minister in the cabinet and it falls to you now.

'Ministerial responsibility says you must resign.'

The Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, also under pressure to resign, has offered to speak to the elderly couple.

One of the alleged perpetrators was part of a cohort of immigration detainees at the centre of a federal political fight.

The 43-year-old man, Jamshidi Doukoshkan, was one of 154 men released from immigration detention in November after the High Court ruled indefinite detention was unlawful.

Noting he was limited in what he could say about a case before the court, Mr Giles said he has spoken to the WA police minister about the case.

'How we can better support the victims, including if they wish to speak to me directly to reiterate that's something that I'm very keen to do... if that's something that's of interest to them,' he told ABC radio on Tuesday.

The Opposition has seized on the alleged attack to slam the Albanese Government for not monitoring the released detainees more closely or applying to have any of them put back behind bars under emergency powers that passed Parliament late last year.

'I want to see the Prime Minister sack the two ministers responsible for this dreadful circumstance,' Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Tuesday.

Mr Giles hit back, accusing Mr Dutton of disrespecting the rule of law, highlighting that the Albanese Government opposed the High Court decision that released the detainees and had to abide by the ruling.

'He's misleading the Australian people,' he said.

The Government has been given the power to apply to put a detainee back behind bars, even if they hadn't yet committed a crime, if they are ruled to be too high a risk to community safety.

Opposition Immigration Spokesman Dan Tehan chastised the Albanese Government for not applying for an order.

'The Government has sat on its hands, not acted on this regime knowing that the chances of reoffending by these hardened criminals was high,' he told the ABC.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles defended the amount of time it took to apply for an order, saying the less than five months since the legislation was put into place was shorter than the Coalition used to apply for an order under a similar regime.

 Mr Tehan argued the regimes were different. 

Mr Giles said that while he couldn't comment on individuals, 'applications are well underway to respond to preventative detention for the most serious and violent offenders'.