$255 Million to Keep Tags on Immigrants Released From Detention

Activists in support of refugees gather outside Park Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 6, 2022. (Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

The Albanese Labor Government has announced $255 million (US$167 million) of taxpayer funding to keep an eye on more than 90 immigrants released from detention.

The funding will enable Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) to make sure the immigrants are complying with visa conditions, including a joint operation known as Operation AEGIS.

This includes making sure they are abiding by curfews and wearing the ankle monitors that have been placed on them.

“This package of funding will secure the ability of agencies to ensure individuals are abiding by visa conditions that apply to them, including curfews and wearing ankle monitors, and increase capacity to bring prosecutions against those who breach conditions through expanded funding for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions,” the Australian government said.

Minister for Home Affairs Clare O'Neil said, “we only have one priority and that is protecting the safety of the community within the limits of the law.”

At least 93 detainees, including those with criminal convictions, have been released into Australian society recently after the High Court found that indefinite immigration was unlawful.

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Who Are These Immigrants?

Liberal Senator James Paterson, soon after the release, raise concerns that the High Court had not yet published the reasons for the decision when the Labor Government released the detainees in the community.

“We don’t know where they are. We don’t know what crimes they have committed,” he said at the time.

In a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Nov. 27, the High Court of Australia announced reasons for the ruling on indefinite immigration will be published on Nov. 28.

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In early November, the High Court ruled that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful, overturning a 20-year precedent.

Chief Justice Stephen Gageler pronounced an order of the court, agreed by the majority, in the case of NZYQ vs the Minister for Immigration.

The order, in summary, declared that the plaintiff’s detention and continued detention were unlawful in the absence of any real prospect the plaintiff would be removed from Australia in the foreseeable future.

NZYQ refers to the pseudonym given to a stateless Rohingya man who was held in detention because he had been convicted of a child sex offence and other countries were not willing to resettle him.

Commenting on the issue in an interview with Sky News Australia, shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan said on Nov. 27 the government’s priorities were wrong.

“Our focus is making sure that they’re focused on cost of living, keeping our borders safe, fixing this immigration debacle following the release of these detainees, and making sure their ministers know what they’re doing,” Mr. Tehan said.

“They [the government] seem to be completely lost—they seem to be completely leaderless at the moment.”

New Legislation On Visa Conditions

However, in Parliament on Nov. 27, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles introduced the Migration Amendment (bridging visa conditions and other measures) Bill 2023 into Parliament.

The Bill will introduce “new criminal offences for people recently released from immigration detention as a direct consequence of the High Court’s decision in NZYQ.”

“Importantly, we are making these laws durable by getting ahead of any potential future challenges,” he said.

“We are strengthening our approach that already exists in these laws by making it an offence to work with another person who is a minor or another vulnerable person for one of these people, an offence for going near a school, a childcare centre or a daycare centre, and also an offence for an individual part of this cohort to contact a victim or a member of that victim’s family.”

In Parliament, Mr. Giles said his government is “leaving no stones unturned” to protect the community.

“The ABF and the AFP have been working closely with state and territory authorities and law enforcement to ensure community safety,” he said.

Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles during the opening of the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on June 18, 2020. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

“This includes around $150 million for the ABF to provide additional staff in compliance, investigations, removal and surveillance functions, and around $88 million for the AFP including funding for regional response teams and personnel to investigate breaches of visa conditions,” the government said.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the AFP and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions work tirelessly to enforce Australia’s laws and keep the community safe every day.

“The Albanese Government is committed to ensuring that, as part of Operation AEGIS, the AFP has the resources it needs to work with ABF and state and territory police forces to enforce the new laws enacted by the Parliament,” he said.

Senator James Paterson in the Senate on Feb. 06, 2023 in Canberra, Australia. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

Shadow home affairs minister, Senator James Paterson, expressed his view on X that given the High Court’s decision to release the reasons for the decision on Nov. 28, the government’s excuse that it “cannot legislate a preventative or continuing detention regime until next year” is now gone.