The Albanese government has suffered another major setback in its unfortunate series of court disputes over the release of criminally convicted immigrant detainees, but it all stems from an original act of self-sabotage.
The High Court, which initially ruled that indefinite detention of detainees who could not return to their home country was illegal, on Wednesday banned electronic ankle bracelets and curfews for those who had been released.
The latest ruling referred to the original decision, in which the Albanian government shot itself in the foot by helping to fund the case against the Commonwealth, as Daily Mail Australia revealed in March.
Official documents revealed Attorney General Mark Dreyfus had personally approved publicly funded lawyers to bring the controversial case to free a child rapist from indefinite detention before the High Court.
Although the man’s case was against his own government, Dreyfus gave the green light to taxpayer-funded lawyers to help him on the condition that they represented the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and not the Commonwealth.
AHRC lawyers helped win the case, which subsequently led to the release of the remaining detainees and influenced the latest High Court decision this week.
Both lost cases are based on legislation that goes beyond the separation of powers between the courts that administer criminal punishment and the Commonwealth government, the High Court concluded.
“The imposition of each of the curfew and surveillance conditions on an (R bridging visa) is prima facie punitive and cannot be justified,” the ruling states.
The Albanese government’s attorney general, Mark Dreyfus (pictured), approved the hiring of publicly funded lawyers fighting the High Court case against illegal indefinite detention.
Mr Dreyfus’s letter authorizing the use of publicly funded lawyers to argue against the Commonwealth in a case that ultimately saw the release of 215 criminal aliens.
For those who violate bridging visa conditions, including electronic monitoring restrictions or curfew, there would be a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison.
The High Court nomination was made by a stateless Eritrean released from an immigration detention center under the previous court ruling in November 2023 and charged with six offenses for failing to comply with curfew and surveillance.
The Coalition was quick to call the latest ruling a “shameful loss for the Albanian government” and called on Labor to explain what steps it will take to protect the Australian community.
Opposition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson, immigration spokesperson Dan Tehan and opposition legal affairs spokesperson Michaelia Cash have urged the government to introduce legislation in response to the ruling.
“This loss compounds the failure of the Albanian government to use the pre-trial detention powers that parliament approved almost 12 months ago to re-arrest any high-risk offender,” they said in a joint statement.
Pictured is a former detainee wearing an ankle monitor who was released after last year’s High Court decision that indefinite detention is unlawful.
Department of Home Affairs legal adviser Clare Sharp said: The federal government had foreseen every possible outcome of the Superior Court case, including the possibility of additional legislation.
Of the 215 released detainees, 143 have electronic monitoring bracelets and 126 are subject to curfew and 65 are accused of various crimes since their release.
The removal of bracelets and curfews will include 28 people who have been detained by police since their release.
Of the 54 people charged, 20 are in preventive detention, while the rest are free on bail or their case has been finalized.
Of the 215 detainees released, 12 had been convicted of murder or attempted murder, 66 for sexual crimes, 97 for assault, 15 for serious drug crimes, 15 for domestic violence, five for human trafficking, and five had minor or minor crimes. no crime.