Australian government hopes to rush laws that could detain dangerous migrants

The Australian government hopes to rush legislation through Parliament on Wednesday that could place behind bars some of the migrants freed after the High Court ruled their indefinite detention was unconstitutional.
The Senate on Tuesday passed draft legislation that would create so-called community safety orders. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles would be able to apply to a judge to imprison migrants with criminal records for violent or sexual offenses because they pose an unacceptable risk to the public. However Giles declined to say how many of the 148 freed migrants who for various reasons can’t be deported might be detained under community safety orders. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil urged opposition lawmakers not to delay the legislation passing the House of Representatives on Wednesday by proposing amendments that could be unconstitutional. The group urged a delay “to allow for proper scrutiny of this important, highly consequential new law,” Graham Thom, an Amnesty International refugee rights adviser said in a statement.
The ruling said the government could no longer indefinitely detain foreigners who had been refused Australian visas, but could not be deported to their homelands and no third country would accept them. Most of the 148 that have been released on the basis of the High Court ruling have been ordered to wear ankle tracking bracelets and to stay home during nightly curfews. Three of the freed migrants have been rearrested. One with a criminal record for violent sexual assault and another was registered sex offender. The third man was charged with drug possession.