The Squiz

The political stand-off over Australia’s immigration detention policies has flared up with the Coalition’s Immigration spokesman Dan Tehan claiming up to 150 more detainees – including “hardened criminals” – could be released into the community. That’s something the Albanese Government denied in parliament yesterday. This saga follows the High Court’s unanimous decision in November that indefinite detention for non-Australian citizens is unlawful if they have no real prospect of being deported. And now, a second High Court decision that could affect the additional detainees is pending.

Wait, wasn’t this taken care of?

#itscomplicated… So last year – the High Court’s ruling in a case based on a claim from a detainee referred to as NZYQ saw the release of 149 detainees, half of whom had been convicted of violent crimes overseas. And this year, an Iranian asylum seeker – known as ASF17 – launched legal action along similar lines. The government yesterday said the difference between the 2 cases is that the second group are people they have determined aren’t refugees, and they “​​simply refuse to go back to their home” (the inference is they aren’t a bunch of criminals like the first lot…). Immigration Minister Andrew Giles says the government will argue that asylum seekers who do not cooperate should remain in detention. He says they “successfully defended this position in the Federal Court and will vigorously defend this in the High Court” when it lands there next month.

So after that it will be sorted? 

Not according to the Coalition, which has accused the Albanese Government of “shocking incompetence”. Adding to the government’s woes this week, it’s admitted the original 150 released detainees were granted invalid visas… That’s an issue because 10 of them had been re-detained after breaching their visa conditions by committing crimes – but the visa problem means their charges have now been dropped. Coalition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson has urged the government to implement the new preventative detention powers, passed in response to last year’s High Court ruling to force former detainees back behind bars – but the government says that takes time.