Ankle bracelets and curfews on former immigration detainees will be stripped, with Australia’s highest court ruling them invalid.
The measures stemmed from a High Court decision that ruled indefinite detention was illegal and resulted in 215 immigration detainees being released as of October 18, 2024.
Of those, 143 have electronic monitoring bracelets and 126 are subject to a curfew after the Albanese government passed emergency legislation to add extra restrictions to the cohort.
The legislation overreached the separation of powers between the courts, that administer criminal punishment, and the commonwealth government, the High Court found.
Breaking bridging visa conditions, including electronic monitoring restrictions or a curfew, would result in a mandatory minimum one-year prison sentence.
‘The imposition of each of the curfew condition and the monitoring condition on a (bridging visa R) is prima facie punitive and cannot be justified,’ the High Court’s decision on Wednesday said.
The High Court bid was launched by a stateless Eritrean released from immigration detention under the previous court ruling in November 2023 and was charged with six offences for failing to comply with curfew and monitoring.
The federal government had planned for all possible outcomes of the High Court case, including the possibility of further legislation, Home Affairs Department legal counsel Clare Sharp said.
A detainee released after last year’s High Court decision that indefinite detention is unlawful is pictured
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has been under pressure to resign since the release late last year of more than 150 detainees including murderers and sex offenders. Mr Giles (left) is pictured with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Neither curfew nor electronic monitoring applied to 64 people – 56 of whom previously had at least one of the restrictions, which has cost the taxpayer more than $73 million.
But the removal of restrictions includes 28 people being taken into police custody.
Of the 215, there are 12 people convicted of murder or attempted murder, 66 for sexual offences, 97 for assault, 15 for serious drug offences, 15 for domestic violence, five for people smuggling and five had low-level or no offences.
Since their release, 62 people have been re-detained at some point.
State and territory police have charged 65 people since their release – 20 of whom are in remand. The rest were in the community either on bail or because their case had been finalised.
In a joint statement, leading opposition figures, including Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan, described the High Court’s latest ruling as an embarrassing loss for the Albanese government.
‘The Albanese Labor Government must explain what they will do to keep the Australian people safe,’ the statement read.
‘The effect of this decision will be that 215 dangerous non-citizen offenders, including 12 murderers, 66 sex offenders, 97 people convicted of assault, 15 domestic violence perpetrators and others will be free in the community without any monitoring or curfews.
’65 of these former detainees have been charged with new offences at the state and territory level since their release, 45 of which remain free in the community.
‘This loss compounds the failure of the Albanese government to use the preventive detention powers the parliament rushed through almost 12 months ago to re-detain any high-risk offenders.’
The Opposition said the Albanese government had ‘repeatedly assured’ them that the amendments were constitutionally sound, and called on Immigration Minister Tony Burke to take urgent action.
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