Australia’s Home Affairs Department has revealed that it has reimposed electronic monitoring and curfews on 10 asylum seekers released from infinite detention since 2023.
This comes as the Labor government struggles to deal with the aftermath of a series of High Court rulings since November 2023, the first of which stated that it was unlawful for asylum seekers to be kept in indefinite immigration detention.
This forced the government to release over 200 unlawful non-citizens into the community.
Many of those released detainees have been charged with serious offences, including murder, domestic violence and sexual assault.
To tackle the security risk of the release, the government later required high-risk asylum seekers to wear monitoring ankle bracelets and be subject to curfews between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
However, in a court decision in early November 2024, the High Court ruled that the above restrictions were punitive and that the government had breached the separation of powers doctrine in implementing the measures.
The ruling prompted Labor to introduce new regulations that allow the government to reimpose restrictive conditions on released detainees if the minister in charge is satisfied that they pose a risk to the community.
At a recent inquiry hearing, a Home Affairs representative, Michael Thomas, informed the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee that seven released detainees had been re-subjected to electronic monitoring, and another three had been reimposed curfews.
Home Affairs Questioned about Slow Progress
Liberal Senator James Paterson questioned why the government was so slow in reimposing the conditions on other asylum seekers.In response, Thomas said his department was working on the issue.
“Since the ruling, we’ve assessed 48 of those cases. And of those 48, 10 have had conditions reimposed,” he said.
“We are working through the remainder of the cohort. Given the nature of the new test and its additional complexity, it has taken some time to take the cohort through to the delegate to make that assessment.”
When asked about the exact number of murderers and sex offenders who were reimposed restrictive conditions, Thomas said he was unable to provide the figures.
Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster said the department was working through the cohort of released detainees with the most severe risk to community safety.
Another Home Affairs representative added that Minister Tony Burke wanted the Department to prioritise sex offenders and those who may have received a criminal offending relating to domestic violence or apprehended violence order.
However, Paterson raised concerns about the risks of other unassessed released detainees.
He pointed out that around 38 sex offenders had not been risk-assessed and did not have restrictions, including some child sex offenders.
“I’m alarmed to know that there are child sex offenders out there who are not subject to electronic monitoring or curfew right now,” he said.
While Thomas acknowledged that was the case, he said the child sex offenders were still subject to the mandatory conditions on their visa, such as being banned from going near schools and child care centres.
He added that there are other mechanisms that help authorities maintain regular contact with released detainees and ensure their compliance with mandatory requirements.
