November 29, 2023
Labor finally making new law
Sex offenders and violent criminals released by the High Court who are deemed a risk to the community will be locked up again under planned new "tough" preventive measures.
Three weeks after a court ruling triggered the release of 141 non-citizens including rapists, murderers and pedophiles Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the federal Government was "moving quickly" to implement a preventive detention regime before parliament ends next week.
"The safety of Australian citizens is our utmost priority," she said.
Labor's response followed the High Court publishing the reasons behind its November 8 ruling that a Rohingya man convicted of child sex offences, but unable to be deported, could not be indefinitely held in immigration detention.
In a unanimous decision, the court ruled detention was unconstitutional from the moment it was clear there were no avenues to remove a non-citizen from the country "in the reasonably foreseeable future".
But the court said release from detention did not grant asylum seekers the right to remain in Australia, noting any could be deported or resettled in another country if their situation changed.
The court also left the door open for individuals convicted of serious crimes to be re-detained if they presented "an unacceptable risk of reoffending".
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the court's reasons "endorsed" Coalition's calls to impose preventive detention on the "very high-risk offenders".
Mr Paterson said Labor should have had the legislation ready to pass immediately.
Four of the released detainees have refused electronic ankle bracelet monitoring imposed under emergency laws passed earlier this month, including one who police were unable to contact on Monday.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles would not confirm if that detainee had been located when asked in Question Time yesterday afternoon.
"The community should be assured that all efforts, co-ordinated under Operation Aegis, are made to track down this individual," he said.
The four detainees were referred to the Australian Federal Police, who declined to comment on the investigations. Asked if agencies would provide the names and images of the released detainees, an Australian Border Force spokeswoman said it was no possible under the Privacy Act.
Constitutional law expert and UNSW Professor George Williams said the court's reasons made it clear any preventive detention orders must be applied "case-by-case" rather than to the entire cohort.
