Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says that “community safety” is the government’s priority ahead of a new High Court hearing on immigration detention next month.
A previous court ruling near the end of 2023 saw 151 immigration detainees released from custody, including some convicted criminals.
Next month will have another challenge from an Iranian detainee, who refused to return to Iran claiming he would be persecuted for his sexuality.
A federal court ruling previously decided against releasing the man.
The government will defend against the unnamed detainee’s appeal.
It’s not sure how many people could be released if the High Court finds in favour of the detainee, but Albanese told Weekend Today this morning the government was doing “everything that we can”.
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“We’re not above the High Court, no government is,” he said.
”And so we are responding appropriately. We’re putting in place every measure to ensure that community safety is our priority.”
Albanese, as well as other senior government figures, previously said they would have preferred the High Court not to make the ruling it did.
The government was criticised for appearing unprepared for the ruling, with a period of scrambling to impose monitoring on those detainees released into the community.
