The High Court ruling today that forcing former immigration detainees to wear ankle bracelets and live under curfews is unconstitutional has been welcomed by the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
The High Court, in the case of YBFZ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs has found that the federal government legislation imposing curfews or electronic tracking on former detainees is punitive and infringes upon the separation of powers in the Constitution which ensures the exclusive assignment to that separated judicial power of authority to impose punishment.
"The legislation unfairly and harshly punished refugees and other immigration detainees, many of whom had already spent years in detention," said Mr Greg Barns SC, criminal justice spokesperson, Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA). "This decision is a win for the rule of law and a reminder that political expediency and public hysteria are not the right basis on which to make laws. Sadly, already the opposition parties are calling for more urgent legislation. Urgent laws are often poorly drafted and are successfully challenged in the courts.
"Legislators should be supporting vulnerable individuals such as those in our community who cannot return to their birth country or a third country. This support is critical so as to keep the community safe and ensure former detainees do not offend.
"We also need to remember many of the people who were released last year released are refugees who have already suffered years of indefinite detention. Some have committed crimes, but the key point is that they had already served their sentence.
"The conditions that were imposed on them were more severe than those which are imposed on people who are on parole generally."
