November 11, 2023
Dozens of asylum seekers held in indefinite detention in Australia will soon be released after the nation's top court found detaining refugees to be unlawful, the federal government has confirmed.
The High Court handed down a landmark ruling on Wednesday that found a stateless man from Myanmar who had been in detention after serving time in jail for child sex offences had been unlawfully detained.
About 92 people currently locked up in immigration detention who cannot return to their home countries could be released soon, according to a statement released on Friday from Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
"We are considering the implications of the judgment carefully and will continue to work with authorities to ensure community safety is upheld," Mr Giles said.
"Other impacted individuals will be released and any visas granted to those individuals will be subject to appropriate conditions." The announcement came after Agriculture Minister Murray Watt confirmed that the stateless Rohingya man at the centre of the case, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old, had been released into the community "under strict conditions".
This drew serious criticisms from the Coalition on Friday with Opposition Home Affairs James Paterson accusing Mr Watt of misleading the Senate.
He said people coming to Australia did not have an inherent right to obtain a visa.
"There's nothing we can do about the High Court's decision but the government should have had a Plan B about how it plans to protect the community from serious offenders," he said.
Opposition Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham echoed similar concerns and said the government needed to be "clear and transparent" about why it changed its approach.
There are about 340 people in long-term detention across Australia. Human rights advocates have welcomed the court's ruling and said it would be life-changing.
