High Court to rule in immigration detainee law

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The High Court is set to rule on the legality of a law requiring those released from indefinite immigration detention to wear ankle bracelets and live under a curfew.

Transcript

00:00Well, you'll remember last year in November, the High Court ruled indefinite detention

00:07for asylum seekers and refugees was not legal, overturning a precedent of more than 20 years.

00:16When that happened, there was a degree of chaos as the government let a number of people

00:22go free.

00:24And included in that number were people who had been convicted of violent crimes, including

00:29rape and murder.

00:31There was a bit of concern.

00:32The government then introduced laws which allowed those people to be monitored with

00:37ankle bracelets and curfews.

00:40And that's what's being challenged today by lawyers for a stateless man who says that

00:47those measures are a punishment.

00:50And under the Constitution, only the courts can impose a punishment.

00:53So to impose that upon him under a visa would not be constitutional.

00:58But of course, the government says it doesn't believe that it is a punishment.

01:05And even if it is, it's necessary and justified to protect the Australian community.

01:12For the refugees and asylum seekers, it would free them from this close monitoring.

01:19But for the government, if it can make its argument prevail, and both arguments are very

01:26strong, it may mean that it gets around some other issues about what to do with this group

01:35of people, some of whom are accused of reoffending because the government wants to be able to

01:43reassure the community that it's running a safe country.

01:47So I think there's probably a little bit more at stake from the government's perspective

01:52than it might first appear.

01:54But we'll just have to wait and see what the High Court says.

01:57There may not be a decision today, it's only a hearing, but the ball is certainly in the

02:06High Court's court to determine if this law was valid or not.

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