Paul Karp, Chief political correspondent, The Guardian
Mon 27 Nov 2023 19.22 AEDT
Australian Border Force alleges four people previously released have breached their visa conditions.
Peter Dutton has accused Labor of a “patch-up” job on its response to the high court decision on indefinite detention, as the Coalition plays hardball by demanding the government create a regime to redetain non-citizens.
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, has introduced new legislation to make “strict laws stricter”, amending the earlier emergency legislation passed with the Coalition’s support to make it more “durable” and help “get ahead of potential future challenges”.
On Monday, the government tried to get on the front foot on immigration detention, announcing a $255m package to respond to releases and the new legislation to criminalise breach of conditions including approaching schools, childcare or daycare centres, working with minors or contacting victims or their families.
The new bill rewrites one of the key safeguards of the initial response, changing the test for an exception to mandatory electronic monitoring and curfews from the minister being satisfied a “non-citizen does not pose a risk to the community” to satisfaction that the conditions “are not reasonably necessary for the protection of any part of the Australian community”.